It Is Near
by Echorent
Summary: Nothing. It's a strange thing to experience firsthand. There is no dark. There is no light. Nothing has existed, exists, and will exist again. It's an odd occurrence, but one every soul must experience in it's journey; at one point, or another. And it's permanence is terrifying. Permanence is not to be trifled with. But so they know that; and they will regret it.
1. A New Beginning

**Chapter 1**

_Nothing._

_It's a strange thing to experience firsthand. There is no dark. There is no light. Nothing has existed, exists, and will exist again._

_It's an odd occurrence, but one every soul must experience in it's journey; at one point, or another._

_And it's permanence is terrifying._

_Permanence is not to be trifled with._

_These blue sparks invading the territory of Nothing will soon learn that. These flashes of color, that should be no more, will regret it. Everything that is held dear, will be lost to those involved._

_They will see._

—

The sight is horrifying.

With what appeared to be a perfect view, slowly collapsed the further back you took the picture. Cars upon cars littered both the still standing and collapsed side of the highway, rusted and eroded with the passing time only very few could know. The rust is plainly visible on the metal; metal that had lost its paint many years ago. A small orb drifted carelessly in the wind, searching, hunting, hoping. It scanned the few sorry excuses of a body it could whenever it came across one. Piles of decayed Calcium, nothing more, nothing less. The orb had lost hope over the course of the years, and now was no different, it's hope waning, fading, vaporizing.

But the orb stuttered, before coming to a full stop; the little blue light glanced at a patch of nothing, surrounded by the same rusted cars that stretched alongside the coast. There was something in that nothing, and it was determined to set it free. It pulsed, once twice, and a bright light ruptured the area.

—

Vision slowly returned to the man, lying in the wake of what had previously been nothing. He groaned as he sat up, back against the car behind him, his muscles feeling tense and his joints felt jammed up. His breaths rapid as he attempted to look around at his surroundings, the unnatural sight hitting his brown eyes. Eyes that rested under the- helmet? He brought his hands up to his face, a clean gauntled hand touching the helmet made of the same material. Before he could make any other discoveries, a squeal of joy came from his right. He turned his head out of surprise to see what was making the noise. It was a black orb, with white shapes jutting off of it, floating in the air. After it had calmed down, and after he had backed away out of fear, the orb spoke up.

"I-I can't believe it! I found one!" It squealed again, it's outer casing twirling around it's form. "S-Sorry, Its just… I did it!" It zoomed around the mans helmeted head, obviously excited about something. The man was trying to follow it, getting dizzy just from trying to keep up. After the orbs initial high had lessened, it turned to the matter at hand.

"I'm… sorry, again. Let me explain." The orb twirled once more, becoming calmer. It's behavior didn't match the unholy site around the two. "I'm something that's called a Ghost. And now… I'm… your Ghost… there's a lot of things that I just don't have time to explain right now, but you need to stick with me until we get somewhere-"

A loud noise off in the distance rang out across the wasteland, cutting off the Ghost mid-sentence. It turned back, and did what the man could only assume was a head shake.

"Somewhere other than here, it's not safe." The orb got close to his face, before disappearing. The man jumped to his feet, the hood over his helmet falling down as he jumped up too quickly. "Don't worry. I'm still with you." The feminine voice amplified itself in his helmet's speakers. He had questions, but they'd have to wait.

"There's a gap in the wall, over there."

Before the man could ask what they meant by there, a waypoint was put up on his helmet, and he stopped. The Ghost immediately protested, trying to hurry the man along.

"What are you doing, we need to mo-"

"Stop."

Silence enveloped the two for what felt like years. There was an odd burn in the man's throat, like he hadn't spoken in forever, and his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard to himself. He cleared his throat, and tried to speak again.

"Who am I?" He asked, trying to remember anything that wasn't common knowledge. But all he could drag up was facts. 22=4, hands have five fingers, teeth were the same stuff that bones were made out of, etc…

But he couldn't remember _him._

"W-Who am I?" He asked again, his voice wavering. Why couldn't he-

"We don't know, me or you… when someone is brought back the first time… gah, it's been awhile… but they don't retain their memories… you're a new person now." The Ghost replied, an obvious sadness in its voice. If there's one thing that's well known about the resurrection process, is that it's always hard to tell them that no-body knows who they are, and that they will never know. It also makes it more difficult to get back to the Last Ci-

A shot rang out, and almost took off the man's head. A pure bolt of energy cutting through the air and kicking up the dirt a few feet away from them; right where the bolt impacted. The man let out a yelp and jumped slightly at the occurrence.

"Run!" The Ghost shouted, panic evident in its voice. The man didn't need to be told twice, making a bolt for the gap in the gigantic wall, another shot rang out, impacting the cloak flapping behind him, putting a clean but jagged hole into it. He made it inside and bolted up a set of stairs to his left, sprinting across the catwalk it connected too. Once he felt safe, he slumped against the wall, panting.

"Gotta keep moving, they'll be onto us soon." His Ghost tried to encourage him, telling him they had to move. He acknowledged it, standing up slowly and walking in almost pitch black dark, his Ghost being the only thing illuminating the floor ahead, he didn't even notice it had re-appeared. They reached this, balcony, and off it only the void remained.

"Hang tight, I'll be right back with you," the Ghost stated, venturing off into the darkness. "_Gotta get these lights on somehow.._." It muttered under it's breath, floating until all the man could see was a small blue light.

The lights came on with a flash.

And the next sight was one he wished he had never seen.

These… _creatures_, lined the wall, like insects, they were perched both on flat and sloped surfaces, some standing upright, some down on all their limbs. He looked back to see the Ghost zooming back to him, being tailed by three machines, almost 4x the Ghosts size. He was about to call out to it, before the Ghost slammed itself into one, sending it tumbling into the other one, both of the machines exploding in some kind of electronic fire. The last one brought itself around, and started gunning for the man. He grabbed it when it was within reach, slamming it into the ground and bringing the heel of his armored foot down onto it. It caved under the force, and the metal bent, destroying the components keeping it functional. It's lights flickered and died, and it was no more. The man's confidence stopped as shots came his way, forcing him to take cover, if there was any. He settled for the frame of a gate, that had also rusted with the weight of time and weather. The gate creaked open, and his Ghost came back to him.

"I got the door open, we gotta move." It sounded, telling him to haul it.

He didn't argue.

But he did stop for something.

In the clutches of a pile of bones was a battered rifle, worn by use instead of time. He reached down to inspect to body, revealing a knife and a few magazines of ammo, presumably for the rifle. He took all of it, and it felt familiar, a gun was something he knew he could operate. But how he knew? He didn't have the answer himself.

He checked the current mag in the gun, before tossing it away. Empty. He slammed another one home and peaked his nearest corner, no sign of anything. The man kept his rifle at the ready, however, in the case of any threat that was bound to leap out at him. He rounded another corner after clearing the previous hallway, again, no sign of any threat. But, the man was unfortunate enough to not check _above_ him.

One of the creatures from earlier pounced on him from above, a short, electrified knife in one of its hands. The rifle got kicked away from him when the creature jumped towards him, and the man drew the knife he had acquired earlier. When the creature swung again, he ducked underneath it, getting close, and yanked on the strands of hair poking out of it's helmet. Once he had a firm grip, he drove his own knife into the thin cover it had on its neck. Where he expected blood, a small trail of white leaked from the neck, like a gas.

He stepped back, watching the creature fall to its knees and claw at it's own neck, before the vapor trail stopped, and it rolled over; dead.

"A Dreg. That's the lowest of the Fallen Ranks." His Ghost labeled it, looking over the corpse too, "House of Devils, they have different marks for different houses, but it's always Fallen."

The man didn't bat an eye as he stepped over the corpse. It had attacked first, these things were out for blood. And he'd be damned if he died a second time in the span of less than an hour. The man tread onward.

—

The man continued his walk, slipping past what his Ghost identified as 'Tripmines' and other squads of 'Fallen.' Eventually, he walked into a warm, bright room, Sunlight was prevalent, and it felt peaceful. That is until a horde of Fallen descended down from out of nowhere. They converged on the man and his Ghost, swarming them and hoping to snuff out the light they carried.

The man felt something warm in his right hand, and looked down at it. Flames consumed his hand, with flames just licking his forearms. He felt the fire take form, being similar to a sphere. He had the urge, his body _knew_ to throw it.

And throw it he did.

It landed in the center of the swarm, exploding into a blinding flash of orange and white, dragging down eight of the Fallen with it, five of which were the same looking Dregs from earlier, and the other three killed had four arms attached to their body, slightly taller than the Dregs. What remained were two combatants, one similar to the three that had been incinerated, and another, with a blue glow around them, that soon dissipated. He immediately took aim and popped the head of the one approaching, joining it's other three dead brothers.

"Those were the Vandals, good work." His Ghost praised from inside his helmet, "All that's left now is the Captain." As if on cue, the Captain roared out a battle cry, charging the man's position with four swords, in each of its four hands. It swung, and the man couldn't react in time. It cleaved through his side, causing a flare of pain as he kicked it back, mag dumping the rifle from his hip and into the Captain. The Captain's shields flared until they broke, and three rounds impacted the Captain, one knocking it's sword out of it's claws. The man dove forward, lunging for the sword and rolling as he hit the ground, rising up and gutting the sword through the Captains stomach. It jut out the other side, this time instead of the vapor from before, blue blood coated the other end of the sword. The Captain growled, and backhanded the man, making the man lose his grip on the sword; and sent the man tumbling across the warm but metal floor. The Captain ripped out the sword from it's stomach, dropping all of the others, and approached the man with the one that almost took the Captain's life. The man looked around, and noticed one of the Fallen Dreg's sidearm lying on the floor next to him.

The Captain slammed it's foot down on the mans chest, and raised the blue-coated blade, still pulsing with electricity.

And three electrified shots rang out.

The captain fell over, clutching its face, the familiar vapor trail sprouting from the three holes in its face, before it toppled over, dead, along with the rest of it's team.

The man started coughing, unlatching his helmet and pulling down his hood, and spat out a wat of blood onto the floor. He just now started to feel the full pain of the deep slash in his side. His Ghost appeared, inspecting the damage, and it wasn't pretty. Flesh was torn out in one swipe, and the blood was coating around the metal of the armor. On the inside, his meaty insides were mixed, and were beyond normal repair.

The man looked down at his side and cursed, reeling his head back up and whimpering. The Ghost tried to reassure him, the Ghost knew the man would be alright, they just had to prove it.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. I got you…"

The Ghost started to pulse, and he felt a strong warmth come over him, healing the jagged slash in his abdomen. He stood up slowly, confidently setting back the helmet over his brown hair; the newfound power in him making him feel like he could take on the world.

Until he almost collapsed as the strength left him.

As he was hunched over, he noticed his empty rifle on the ground, running over and picked up the tattered gun. He pulled out one of the few remaining mags he had on him, and the satisfying click was music to the man's ears as he marched onward.

—

He was able to see light again after leaving the wretched wall, the lands in front of him covered in dirt and grass. The sun was setting now, a dawn set the sky in a dreary mood as he observed the world around him. His Ghost materialized, looking at the man and was about to speak before a deafening blast sounded in the sky. They both turned their gaze upward, and noticed the blast knocked over an old tower, the tower hitting the ground also creating a second noise. The initial cause if the noise soon came into focus as an approaching airship became bigger and bigger.

"Oh-o give us a break! Move!" The man's Ghost shouted, alarmed. The man took off as the giant airship sounded over head, other, more tinier airships dispersing from the main airship. Three of which were gunning for right where the two were standing.

"Over there!" The Ghost shouted, another marker popping up, this one was a actual opening instead of just a gap in the side of a building. "It's an old docking station, if were lucky, we may be able to get out of this!"

The man made a sprint for the marker, and was knocked onto his ass when an impact hit him. Looking back up to what it was this time, a six-legged machine was booting up, the lights on the leg flickering.

"A Walker?! Go, Go!" The Ghost yelled into his eardrums, as if he didn't know the immediate danger he was in. He scrambled off the ground, running past it just as it was finished booting up. More Dregs also converged onto his position, and he blew their heads off as he passed.

Eventually, the two made it to the marked point, and his ghost activated a gate, sealing off the pursuing Dregs and Vandals. One pressed it's face against the mesh of the gate, and snarled at the man.

"They wont be held up for long, they'll find a way around." The Ghost implied, seeing how the Vandals already broke off to find another way inside his safe spot. The man figured figured that they still had time though, and decided to walk down the new sets of hallways they had just uncovered; the man attempting to catch his breath.

—

The two dregs occupying the room were cleanly mopped up by the four cracks from a certain rifle. The man and his Ghost stepped into the room, both of them peering up at the purple ship that was just beginning to be picked apart by the two Dregs.

"We got here just in time." The Ghost inquired, casually floating past his head, hovering around the ship; all just so it could check if anything vital was missing.

"Is it sky-worthy?" The man asked, noticing how the Ghost wasn't assuring him the ship was good to go yet.

The Ghost flew back around, and gave a slight bob, what the man had to assume was a head nod. "I can make it work. But, it won't break orbit, not like it needs to, yet. Once we get back to the city we can get it repaired." The Ghost informed him, and the answer was good enough for the man. He jumped at a louder, more echoey yell, it was coming from the walls.

"Transmitting you inside!" The Ghost rushed, and immediately started the takeoff sequence. It lifted off it's restraints, and began to leave the bay through a hole in the roof. A massive Captain was below them, accompanied by the two Vandals from earlier. The Captain stared down the ship, while the two Vandals tried to shoot it down with their rifles, meeting no success.

As soon as the ship was airborne, the Ghost gunned it, already having set course for the 'city.' Unbeknownst to them, a cloaked figure watched them as they took off into the now night sky.

**/**

**Thank you all for reading the first chapter of 'It Is Near', I have 5 story arcs planned for this fic and would appreciate everyones feedback along the way. Leave a review telling me what you though, what you loved, and what I can do better in the next chapter! This is just a sneak peak however, and Im gonna try to get all the chapters on the Vanilla Arc done before I start uploading day after day. The constant updates should come around the end of November/early December. Thanks again! See you all next time.**


	2. Additions

**Chapter 2**

_Life is a fragile concept._

_Life is what binds all living things together._

_Life leads to death._

_And death leads to something greater._

_Nothing._

_But the Nothing can wait, as long as Nothing consumes the life later._

_Life is allowed a second chance._

_Just to be snatched away once again._

—

The wastelands of Mars could easily be described as tundras of burning air and orange sand. Here lies the laboratories of humanity's achievements, and here rises the militaristic embodiment that is the Cabal.

Ghosts, in recent events, have been repurposed due to the lack of natural revives. Ghosts who had lost hope in ever finding their Guardian had volunteered to be a resource gathers for most of the system, excluding Earth's moon, far too dangerous.

Three Ghosts floated through the heat barren desert of Mars, collecting 'Relic Iron,' a material special to Mars, as they went. The Ghosts made light talk as they went, eventually spreading out to cover more ground. One of the Ghosts, a black and red ghost with a white colored eye, tread onward to a certain facility, hoping to gather more materials from a structure rather than taking chances in the tundra.

The air lacked the hard blow of Mars' winds, calming the Ghost as it scanned the surrounding area.

Something happened here.

Decayed corpses were strewn about the facility, some clutching themselves, some holding others. Bones were collapsed onto the floor and tables alike. What caught the Ghosts eye however was a glint in the corner. As he approached the shine, multiple things raised red flags. Weathered bullet casings and empty magazines were abundant the closer he got, eventually inspecting the glint. It was an Exo, it's body shot to pieces, and in its clutches was what appeared to be a broken Scout Rifle.

The Ghost was shaken, and started to retreat back to the door. But something was drawing the Ghost back to the glint of…

Light.

It clicked for the Ghost, and decided to give it a shot. It used the 'Relic Iron' to repair the battered machine, and once it was finished, it started the Resurrection process with a flash of blue light…

—

The Exo slowly came to, groaning as it's body started to ache. He looked around, immediately taken aback by the sight that surrounded him. Before he could yell, an orb floated in his face.

"N-No way… I thought I was just getting my hopes up!"

The Orb spoke, the white light on its face pulsing each time it spoke. The Exo looked down at his hands, flexing them, the Orb In front of him rambling on about something, but the Exo wasn't listening. A small green flash was appearing in the top right of his red optics, a single, chilling message.

'_Objective Complete.'_

As soon as he saw that, the Exo attempted to access it's memories, only for him to be met with his name and reset count, along with a current set of instructions, ones that were marked as complete.

Adam-2 was his name, one wipe was done by an unknown force, the other was a full wipe triggered by himself. The last set of instructions left before the wipe were even more terrifying.

'_Kill them all.'_

The Exo, Adam, took a look around again at the carnage that had taken place, and had been forgotten years past. He did this, nothing else could've. What compelled him… why..? Adam-1 wanted him to slaughter these people, but Adam-2 wanted answers, he didn't want to; he was scared, more so of himself than anything else.

The orb noticed that he wasn't paying attention, and leaned in closer.

"Are you alright? Considering the circumstances atleast…"

Adam has to lie, he didn't have a choice. What was he supposed to do? Tell this Orb that he was the cause of these people's death? That he had ripped the life out of them? No. He couldn't.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" Adam re-assured the orb, picking himself up off the floor.

Adam's Exo frame was of simple enough design. A pitch black and vermillion red color coding, with the colors proportions respectively. He had two metal horns on his head, bolted on rather than as a base part of his frame. His eyes were a perfect hue of red, and the same went for his mouth whenever he spoke. He threw the broken weapon away, no longer wanting to be associated with the rifle. He looked back to the orb, a metallic sigh leaving his mouth.

"So… what are you? Where are we?"

The two started to leave the building, heading back out into the blowing sands of Mars, the other two Ghosts from earlier returning, taken aback by the newest arrival. The orb turned to look at him.

"Well. I'm a Ghost, And now, I'm your Ghost…"

—

Her eyes cracked open, crawling along the cursed wreckage that was once her ship. The exit was wide open thanks to the rough landing, and she toppled out, letting out a pained cry as she hit the ground. Her arm was broken before she jumped out, but now it's pain increased tenfold. She started coughing, bad. She tore off the sorry excuse for a helmet that her Queen oh-so _generously _provided.

What a fucking joke.

She stood up, looking down at the ground, stained with the purple blood she had just coughed up. Her gaze turned towards where the light was coming from.

Above her, a gap in the ground was there. Her ship had crashed, and just so happened to be the point of a sinkhole, waiting to strike.

The ground level was too far up, it had to be at least a five story drop.

She was trapped.

More coughs, more blood.

She was dying.

Ironic. She had fled to save her life, and here, in this pit, is where Erina would face her final death.

Her vision was fading, and she sighed, leaning up against her totaled ship, trying to get as comfortable as possible for the end.

Eleven minutes later, Erina Xia was no more. Nothing, had consumed her.

—

The storm raged around the old ship, creaking noises made it sound like the ships Hull was about to tear into two. The man had been pestering his Ghost about it, but the Ghost simply kept reassuring him it would hold.

The man sat in one of the Pilots chairs, fiddling with the empty rifle in his hands. The man's thoughts lingered, his thumb rubbing the grip of the rifle over and over.

His Ghost appeared in front of himself, if it could look worried, it would be.

"...hey, are you doing alright?" The feminine voice sounded again, checking up on the man.

"Y-Yeah, I am." The man looked up at the Ghost, a fake smile underneath his helmet. Changing the subject, he leaned back into his chair. "You. Have some explaining to do. What's going on, what were those things?" Obviously he picked up on the classifications, but the man wanted to know why those things were out for his blood.

The Ghost let out a short sigh, dipping is frame towards the ground.

"We just had a run-in with the Fallen. A group of scavengers that kill for what they desire. That was the most prominent of Houses, the House Of Devils. The houses can be distinguished by the shades of their marks. Devils are Red, Kings are Yellow, and so on. As for what's going on… that's a little harder to explain; and it's really not my place to say. Once we get to the city, I'll find a way for you to speak with, well, the Speaker."

The man listened, satisfied with the answer his Ghost gave him. He got lost in a train of thought again, before an obvious question hit him; one that he had no clue how it hadn't been asked yet.

"Do you… have a name?" The man asked, feeling slightly embarrassed that this was just now a point of conversation.

"No… some name their Ghosts, some Ghosts name themselves, but it's mostly uncommon to find a Ghost with a name."

The Ghost responded, thinking for a second.

"Now that you mention it… I did meet a Ghost named Garrett once."

The man took a liking to that name, it had a ring to it, not as unique as some names he had in his head, but not as common as others. Obviously, the name wouldn't work well on his Ghost, but it could serve another purpose…

"Ghosts… hm, like spiritual or supernatural?" The man asked, wondering what the base name meant.

"More like… supernatural with a side of divinity. Ghosts are children of the Traveler, so to speak."

"Traveler?"

"Again, not my place to explain. Not my strong suit anyways." The Ghost floated closer, teasingly. "Why? What's on your mind, tryna name me?"

"For better or worse, yes?"

"Cute. Any ideas?" The Ghost was genuinely excited, on top of the fact that it was one of the only Ghosts in recent history to resurrect a Guardian. And now they were getting a name!

"Well… if it's… hmm…" The man gave thought to it, weighing options to definitions that he could remember, and finally settled on something.

"Katherine?"

Silence filled the air, the two mulling it over, the Ghost eventually giving a twirl, and squeal, of approval.

The man exhaled, not knowing whether or not he had made a mistake. He smiled, a genuine one, under his helmet.

The man tried to stand up, cursing as his cloak got snagged on the seat. Katherine laughed, pointing out the spot that was binding the man down.

"You're a Hunter, you better get used to getting your cloak caught on things."

"Hunter?"

The silence reminded him that it wasn't Kat's place to say, and he just shrugged it off. But that title also gave him another idea.

"Speaking of names-"

"You thought of another one?"

"For myself. Garrett Hunter, fitting, right?" The man asked his Ghost.

"It sounds nice, if not a little odd; with you being a Hunter and all…"

"Then it's settled." Garrett stated, another smile crossing his face under his helmet.

The two kept chatting, until their tattered ship broke through the clouds, revealing a beautiful city to their eyes; and a monolith of a tower before them.

Katherine sighed as she looked out the windshield with the Hunter. "The Last City on Earth… it's our job to keep it safe…"

The ship descended into the Hangar, Katherine already receiving clearance sometime before.

"There's guest rooms nearby in the tower. We can rest up in one of those for tonight, and you can meet the Vanguard in the morning. I'll set up an appointment, you deserve a rest."

Garrett didn't complain, following the waypoint to the open rooms, fitted with four beds and four nightstands, no privacy between the ones borrowing the rooms. Thankfully, he was the only one there for the time being. He removed his helmet and pulled down his hood, closing his eyes and falling asleep within the next few minutes; still clad in the rest of his armor.

—

_A Fallen is only as powerful as it's Kell._

_A Vex is only as correct as it's Present._

_A Cabal is only as victorious as it's General._

_But a Hive is as supreme as it's God._

_People yearn to worship gods, this is undeniable. _

_Give those who are lost to society time, and they will construct a god or an idol to worship._

_This evidence is as true as it is real._

_But what happens when the God is real?_

_What happens when the God bears a sword?_

_What happens when the God is spiteful?_

—

Dark.

The night consumed all light, the scouting party relying now on the lights of a nearby scavenging team of Ghosts. Two Hunters the scouting team consisted of, stumbling in the night; all in a vain attempt to get to the LZ.

"I don't like this." One of the Hunters jabbed over the comms. "We are a goddamn beacon in this dark."

"I hear ya, but at least we-" The second couldn't answer, as an arc strand picked him off.

"Fallen! Go! I'll get his resu-" The downed Hunters Ghost couldn't finish what it was attempting to say either, as another strand picked it off.

The remaining Hunter and his Ghost ran, and the other three Ghosts from the scavenging team scattered. The Hunter eventually disappeared into the night, the three from the scavenging team becoming alone, eventually down to one last Ghost.

That Ghost eventually found a deep hole in the ground, diving down into it to evade incoming fire. It was easily five stories deep, but it would be easy to get out of you could float. Once the pursuing Fallen gave up the chase, the Ghost was able to relax a bit. Once everything had settled down, it began to notice these pink lights flashing around in the dark. It was hesitant, but it was sure the coast was clear, and shined it's own flashlight onto the mini lights.

It was a still smoking hull of a ship, a purple and yellow color pattern and the ship of an odd make; it had never seen anything like it…

It looked around more in the damp cavern, eventually coming across a discarded helmet, from what it could tell, the helmet was of a midnight purple color scheme, small hints of silver here and there. It looked like it was fir for someone more on the younger side, but who…

The Ghost saw the body, propped up against the same wrecked ship, and wearing the same armor that the helmet belonged to. A blue corpse sat on the dirt, hunched over and dead. Blood surrounded them and caked their mouth, most likely the result of an internal injury. The death couldn't have occurred less than 48 hours ago, due to the still smoking ship and lack of rotting on the corpse. But the Ghost… felt something. This could be its… no.

The Ghost turned away, about to leave; there was no possible way that it could be the next Ghost to have a resurrected Guardian in years! It kept on going, until it left the pit, disappearing out of sight.

Only for it to zoom back down, getting in the woman's face, and emitting a blue flash of light.

—

_**A.N.**_

_**Alright so there is no way in hell that I'm gonna have this arc done by early December if I go for 3,000 words a chapter, so I'm just going to upload these as I finish them. Make sure you favorite or at least follow the story to stay caught up!**_

_**Also, reviews. Even if you have nothing to critique, I still love to hear feedback so I know that I'm doing what you guy's love. Please leave reviews when you can so I can know if I'm on the right track. **_

_**One last thing. This story is inspired by multiple things; one of which I will address right now. Matt's **_'_**Guardians Never Die'**__**, is the main inspiration to get me back into writing again, and I severely recommend reading that. **_

_**See you all next time!**_

_**Echorent**_


	3. Friends In New Places

**Chapter 3**

_A tree[lineage] of probabilities[odds] has its roots[beginnings], millions of branches[outcomes]._

_What's not always looked at while admiring the bark[story], is the roots[beginnings], the foundation of where it all stemmed from._

_The tree[heroes] will eventually decay into Nothing[legend], but the roots[?], the roots[?!], the roots{?_!\ ?}, the r-_

—

Garrett's eyes slowly opened, and closed back once again.

These guest beds were way too comfortable.

"You know…" Katherine started, having booted up a few minutes ago, "For someone who has been dead to the point their bones weren't even around anymore, you'd think you'd be rested enough to last you a few centuries…"

Garrett just groaned, he was exhausted after the previous day, with multiple attempts on him and his Ghost, how could he not be?

"I'll give you a few minutes, but you'll have to get up soon. The appointment I scheduled us in for starts in half an hour."

Garrett sighed, and after a few minutes of lying in bed, he sat up, and dangled his still armored feet off the side of the bed. He stood up, grabbing his discarded helmet off the floor, before it disintegrated in his hands.

"Don't worry, I just stored it for when you need it. You shouldn't be wanting to carry that around all day." His Ghost spoke, hovering over his shoulder.

He was about to respond, until he noticed that he wasn't alone in the room.

On the opposite end of the room, another person lay in their own bed. Normally, he would've just gotten on his way, but something stood out about the other in the room.

They were blue.

Well, not like perfect hue blue, but they had a pale radiance to their bleached skin. Their hair was a beautiful mix of black, white and gray, small strands of vaporizing light moving across her visible features. He was drawn to it like a moth drawn to a source of brightness; an odd obsession overcoming him as he saw something so naturally unnatural right before him. He reached out a hand close to her face, intent on feeling the texture; her perfect silver eyes were staring back at him, the eyes had a glow too.

Wait. Her ey-

"What. The. Fuck!"

Garret didn't have time to react as his hand was batted away, and received a slap to the face that sent him stumbling back a few steps. The woman had sat up in her bed, a furious look on her face as she stared the Hunter down. Garrett reeled back, soon realizing that it was in his best interest to leave the room as soon as humanly possible. He ran out of the room, Katherine laughing at him barely able to form her words as it sounded like she was crying from laughter.

—

After the creep had left the room, the woman laid back down, and sighed. Her Ghost appeared next to her; and while the Ghost has found it amusing, it had to talk to her.

"Myra…" It spoke, getting the Woman's attention.

"No! Imagine waking up to that, what the hell is _wrong_ with him?"

"While it was probably not the best way to approach it; he had probably never even seen an Awoken before. I was going to wake you up anyways, the Vanguard already had an appointment scheduled a half an hour from now, they decided to merge us into it aswell. Get dressed, I left your gear on the side of the bed." The Ghost said, disappearing again.

Myra slowly got out of the bed, her skintight black and purple undersuit still on her body, slowly sliding the gear of whatever faction this served onto the corresponding suit, donning the helmet last. She checked her sidearm that rested in her holster, a sense of pride overcoming her; like the sidearm was of importance.

She waited a few minutes before heading to the door, making sure that the creep had left for good. Once it was assured he was gone, she stepped out; her Ghost reappearing in front of her.

"If you would follow me? I'll take us to the Vanguard, but we've still got quite a while. Scenic route?" The Ghost asked, looking back to it's guardian.

"Scenic route."

—

_Fate. _

_Fate is a link in the chain of time._

_Fate is a predestined outcome. No matter what is done to change it, that is factored into the equation aswell; there is no escaping it. _

_What you do, is fate._

_What kills you. _

_Fate._

_Fate is all we have left._

_Fate is our Destiny._

—

Garrett made his way down a set of stairs, being met with a wisely thought out hallway. Two figures stood on each side, one was a simple machine, and another was a man that was easily taller and bigger than him. He could feel the eyes behind the one horned helmet staring into his skull, and tried his best not to make eye to helmet contact. He finally made it to the end of the hall, albeit a few minutes earlier than he was supposed to be.

Occupying the room were quite a few people, but none looked as significant as the three standing at their respective edges of the table. On his right was a African American woman, whose head was shaved, and was dressed in purple robes. She was staring down the new arrival, and once again Garrett avoided eye contact.

On his left, another machine, but… this one wasn't like the others. It was intelligent to Garrett… alive. The machines color palette didn't match at all; brown and red with a hint of tan all across it's clothing, but the metals on it's features comprised of blue, white, and yellow. He was turned slightly at the moment, speaking to the third at the table.

Last but not least, a man who looked like he owned the room with his bare two hands stood at the opposite end of the table. The man was blue, but a darker shade than the woman he had seen earlier, and his eyes were an electric blue. The man's head wasn't shaven, but bald, he had the air of authority around him, as a leader would in the days of conflict. His armor comprised of larger portions, gunmetal playing with red paint across it, giving a slight wake in his intimidation factor. He was also staring at the new arrival, but not glaring daggers into his soul, more of a warm vibe to it. The man couldn't explain it.

The machine also followed the blue man's gaze, and eventually, the three at the table were all staring at one thing; currently the center of their attention.

Him.

"I uhmm… I was told to be here around this time." Garrett started off, not exactly knowing _why_ he was supposed to be here, but Katherine was excited about something.

"That you are. Your Ghost had arranged for this meeting, as well as another did. We weren't told by either of anything other than that it is of utmost importance. Would you care to enlighten us?" The woman in purple spoke, in studious nature. Before Garrett could answer that he had no idea, the machine spoke up.

"What she's trying to say, is to 'spill it.' We ain't got all day, after all." The machine jabbed, placing his hands flat down on top of the table, leaning forward onto it.

"His first resurrection was yesterday!" Katherine blurted out, unable to contain or help herself; the pride getting to her. Garrett had no clue what the significance of it was, until he looked back at the three others.

The three were looking down at the table, mulling over what they had just heard and whether or not to have faith it Garrett's Ghost. The machine was the first to speak up, shaking his head.

"How longs it been? Five? Ten years?" The machine asked, turning to look towards the blue man.

"Seven." The blue man said, returning his stare to Garrett. He could see the cogs turning, and again was shut out from what he had to say when the black woman spoke up.

"Can you back up these claims, little light?" She asked Katherine, a look of want on the woman's face, but also a look of doubt that crept onto her features.

"Sadly, I can't, but-"

What Katherine was about to respond with was cut short, as a new figure entered the room. The all too familiar blue feminine face was like a punch to the jaw for the Hunter and his Ghost, the woman had her own air of respect on her, possibly due to the fact that she hadn't spotted Garrett yet.

"Good Morning Vanguard, I have been informed of who you are by my Ghost, and they have also informed me of which my resurrection that occurred yesterday is of importance to you three. Could you care to shed some light on my situa- _You Again?!"_ Her professional stature and speech fell apart as she caught a glimpse of her wake up call out of the corner of her eye. She immediately dropped what she was doing, making her way towards the Hunter.

"Hang on a sec… _two?_" The machine said, giving a small chuckle. "Okay okay, you got us for a minute. Well played you two." He praised, giving a slow clap and another chuckle.

Just before the Myra could tear out Garrett's throat, another figure slowly emerged into the room, this one hearing the machines comments. The figures white robes danced around his body, his mask obscuring his facial features.

"They are of truth, Cayden." The man spoke, walking past the machine, now dubbed as Cayden. The blue man gave a strong salute, and Cayden only gave a lazy one. The woman in purple bowed, and not before long, the room was silent. Even the others working on other stations turned to look at him.

"A day was spoken, where three Guardians would rise from the ashen wake of this system, and squander all that shall oppose the Traveler." He kept walking, staring out of the window towards dozens of snowy mountains. "I believe we are in their midst." He finished, still gazing out the window. The room kept silent until Cayden spoke up again, pointing at the two guardians that stood by.

"My math isn't the greatest, but I count two; where's the third then?" He asked the man in white. Before he could get an answer, one of the workers waved to get their attention.

"I've got a single Cabal infantry ship that just broke orbit, it's heading for the city. Permission to open fire?"

The man in white began to leave the room, looking towards the direction on Cayden.

"There."

The man in white continued his walk, heading towards the two guardians.

The blue man shook his head, and gave the worker an answer. "No, let it land. We will have members of the CTF intercept it's passengers."

The worker nodded, keying his radio and bringing it close to his lips.

"Copy that. Commander Zavala gave a negative on the guns, keep em cold down there fellas. Control to 'City Task Force', we've got a Cabal…"

The man in white approached the two, and the Ghosts had to keep themselves from swooning over being this close to him.

"I am the Speaker. Later today, please do visit the Northern wing of the tower today at 9:00 PM… we have much to discuss…"

And with that, the Speaker left, the tall man from earlier bowing before the Speaker aswell, and soon, the man in white had disappeared.

"Welp. Since I'm one of the only ones that actually feel like talking to you, I'll get you all caught up to speed." Cayden said, getting the twos attention. "Right now, you are now known as what we call guardians, atleast if you're willing to take up the mantle of whatever crap Speaker was rambling about." Cayden explained, but earned a glare from the black woman; but no comments were made.

"There are three classes: Titan, Hunter, and Warlock. Each of us? We are the Vanguard of each. Commander Zavala is Vanguard of the Titans, I'm the Vanguard of the Hunters, and Ikora over there is the Warlock Vanguard." He pointed out each and every one of them.

"I can already see you're a hunter." Cayden pointed at Garrett, more so his cloak. "Believe me, I'm excited. But… what's hers?" He asked, pointing to Myra.

Her Ghost spoke up, a bit disappointed. "I couldn't tell, the darkness in her blood made the light unreadable… she's Reefborn…"

Again, the two newest rezzed had no clue what that meant, but the Zavala nodded in understanding.

"I see… well then, Ikora?" The Commander looked towards the Warlock, and she nodded, outstretching her gloved hand towards Myra. The woman took it, and listened to Ikora.

"Open your mind, Guardian… empty all of unnecessary thoughts and actions, and focus on the void… on the nothing…" And she did, sparks flashing around, and eventually two orbs appeared in her mind. One was an even more colder version of the void, she shuddered from its power and of its restraint on her soul. The other was warm, and she felt like she would be safe behind it, even in death.

She opened her eyes, to be met with Ikora's grin.

"Warlock… She's a Warlock."

—

The Cabal dropship was sputtering, and eventually, there was quiet, but not peaceful quiet.

"We just lost the second engine!" Adam's Ghost called out from the back of the ship, the Exo cursing under his breath. He looked at the objective marker of their LZ disappear, and replaced in the center of a gigantic tower.

"We won't make it to the initially instructed Landing Zone, we've gotta make an emergency landing in the Hangar." His Ghost said casually, the Exo pressing on the stick as hard as he could, feeling the metal bend under his palm. The hangar was rapidly approaching, and the Ghost said four words that made the Exo want to tear it apart right then and there.

"Standing by for Resurrection."

—

"Commander!"

The worker from earlier interrupted the revelation, yelling heard on the other end of his radio.

"The dropship crashed into the hangar instead of heading to the LZ. CTF are responding but it's going to take awhile. Shaxx deployed some red jacks but they won't be able to do much if actual Cabal are onboard."

Zavala turned to the two guardians in the room, looking like he prepared to address them, but then spoke to the machine.

"Cayde, I want you to get these two squared away with what they need. I'm going to head to the hangar; Ikora, you're with me." He said, stepping away from his position at the table, Ikora following in tow as they headed for the Hangar.

A few seconds passed before Cayde/Cayden spoke up again, walking over to the two.

"Alright you two, we're gonna take a walk to the Cryptarchs, get you set up with some gear that's not spinmetal and plating we have no knowledge of." Cayde put his hands on both of their shoulders, turning them around. "Onwards!"

—

Adam coughed as he came to, his Ghost floating around his head, he felt a sting pulse around him, before it had completely disappeared from his mechanical frame.

"We have got to get out of the transport, we have no clue what condition it's in." His Ghost told him, Adam slowly rising to his feet, and limping across the tilted hull of his hijacked ship.

He eventually made it the offload ramp, but it was stuck shut. He was going to try breaking it off, before a purple… mesh started to disintegrate the ramp, eventually, it had dissipated, and three figures were on the other side.

One was a black woman in purple robes, another, a blue man in gear similar to Adams own, and the third was a blond haired woman; who had goggles resting on her forehead and long black gloves, who wiped her forehead clear of sweat.

The African American woman held out her hand, Adam taking it graciously, and stepping out of the crashed ship.

"I'll get the frames to work on the ship, y'all get him safe and up to speed." The blond haired woman said, turning to a bunch of machines and hashing out orders.

Adam turned to the blue man, who in turn spoke to Adam next, a voice of authority resonating from their lips.

"Come. We have much to discuss…"

Adam sighed, what had he gotten himself involved with.

—

_1.1 This is the one._

_1.2 How sure are you this time?_

_1.1 Positive._

_1.3 You said that the last time, and the time before that, and the time be-_

_1.1 I know. But I'd place my life on this one, technically we all are, and we don't have a choice on it…_

_1.2 It's a bunch of myths, besides, we-_

_1.1 __**We **__will assist, and you know it's for the best._

_1.3 Well… just… don't tell them anything…_

_1.1 Don't worry, I won't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain…_

_1.2 None of us do._

—

_**A.N**_

_**Chapter 3 Is Done! Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating today aswell! This chapter was more to explore the Guardians more, and get the Fireteam to where they need to be. Some of the Italicization is just random strains of thought, but others will hint at the future. Let's see if some of you can guess who 1.1 is ^_^**_

_**I also constructed a Discord server for my work. Currently, this is the only remaining writing after I purged everything else, but hey, I'd love to chat with some of you!**_

_**The link works, just take away the spaces and it should allow you in!**_

_** discord . gg / C9YEgcS**_

_**Lastly, the opening may seem familiar if you have read 'Guardians Never Die,' and that's because I used that scene as inspiration for this story. Just giving credit to Matt!**_

_**Other than that, I've got nothing left to say. Until next time!**_

_**Echorent**_


	4. Down Time

**Chapter 4**

_[ .. - ... ... .. - ·-·-·- ... .-.. .- -.- . .-. - ..-. -. ..- .- .-. -.. .. .- -. ... -··- -... . .- .-. . .-. - ..-. ... .- - .-. -.. ... ·-·-·- ... . .. ... -. . .- .-. -··- .- . - ..- ... - .-. .-. . .-. .- .-. . ·-·-·- .. - ... -.-. .-. - -····- ]_

{_Last Transmission of a disappearing Vanguard Scout Rhyne on Earth's Moon, listed M.I.A, presumed dead. Investigation team will respond within the month._}

—

"I brought you a _pur-ple, _so I shouldn't get a _bl-ue._" The Titan was trying to explain to the blue cryptarch, who wasn't changing his view on the matter at hand.

"Bringing in Engrams from the wild is a sure way to get a rare item out of a legendary coded engram. Next time you want a guaranteed purple, bring in one you know it's origins from…" Master Rahool spoke, waving the guardian away, signifying that this conversation was over.

The titan let out a low sound the mix of a sigh and a grunt, best described as 'ugh', and walked off upset. Before the cryptarch could go back to decrypting the outdated message he had received from a Vanguard Scout, one of the Vanguards approached him, a Hunter on his right, and… a Queen's guar-?

"Master Rahool," Cayde started, a bunch of blue coded engrams in his hand, "These guardians are in need of some new equipment, don't worry, I've got the engrams covered." Cayde placed down the 16 engrams down on the desk, three of which were purple; how he was able to carry all of them, nobody had any clue.

"The hunter has the Cryptid 4.6 set…" Cayde started once again, dusting his hands off as he stepped back from the pile. "He also gets the 'Duke Mk. 44, and the LDR 5001'. The warlock has the 'Tengu Operant' set with the 'Final Rest II,' you'll know it when you see it." He finished, taking a step back from all the engrams. "Welp, I've done all I can for you two at the moment. Go to the Speakers appointment when the time comes, look around, get to know your gear, all that crap. I'm gonna head to the hangar to see what that cabal troop transport was all about." And before anyone could object or reply, Cayde had already taken off, hand cannon in hand.

"... well, guardians, i'll get to decrypting these engrams, in the meantime, you may want to get access to your vault." The cryptarch said, pointing behind them at these three pillars jutting out from the ground. "Simply create an account with your name, and class, and it will make available space for you. Now, you won't actually be able to access your vault to store things until you officially become guardians, why Cayden is even giving me these for you is beyond me… anyways, do go on and get set up, these should be done in about half-an-hour…"

—

_Q: Kneel..._

_U: She's speaking to __**you**_ _Erina…_

_E: I know, I know… and I'm… I'm so sorry..._

_U: Sorry?! No-ho-o, sorry isn't an acceptable ans-!_

_Q: __**Enough..!**_

_E/U: …_

_Q: Erina… as much as it pains me to do this… you have become a traitor to your people… you must be silenced, we both know that more than anyone else… Guards, take her away…_

—

Katherine and the warlocks Ghost had finished dematerializing the last of the armor, opting to wait until they were in private to dawn the new set, like any responsible creature would.

But their weapons stayed on their person, Garrett very interested in the red and black revolver in his hands, and the sniper rifle on his back also felt nice; almost like the rifle belonged there.

Master Rahool was just handing Myra her fusion rifle, a model and make of the 'Dead Orbit' faction, whatever that meant, as it supported their logo and colors.

Before Garrett could speak to Myra, she was already gone, including her Ghost. So much for apologizing for earlier…

Katherine appeared and hovered over his shoulder, giving him a mix of a worried and helpful look, at least as much of one as a Ghost could give.

"Cmon." She said, waiting for Garrett to look at her. "Let's look around a bit, wait till evening rolls around, then we can go to the Speaker."

"Yeah… alright…"

—

Cayde finally made it to the hangar, taking a look at the wrecked cabal drop ship in the middle of the room. Frames were already putting out fires while others were giving out orders. He spotted Zavala and Ikora speaking to some other Exo, and began to make his way to the trio.

Once within earshot, he waved both arms above his head, Ikora seeing him first after Cayde had finally spoke up, sighing to herself.

Cayde jogged up to them, whistling at the wreck. A cabal dropship usually doesn't hit the ground in one piece, aside from the split hull and fires breaking out, that thing was still flyable.

He turned to them, a questioning look on his face.

"So… no Cabal?" He asked, upset but still hoping for a chance to one up the Speaker about something, for reasons.

"No Cabal." The Exo confirmed, the black and red color palette of the Exo giving him an evil look, and his Ghost matching was not helping either.

"This is Adam-2, or Adam as he prefers to go by." Zavala informed Cayde, holding out his arm and gesturing towards the Exo, now known as Adam.

"He stole the Cabal dropship… after being revived for the first time on Mars…" Ikora stated blankly, almost as if she didn't even believe what she was saying herself.

"...you three are, really, good at jokes. Ugh…" Cayde couldn't even keep up with his sarcastic remarks, rubbing his forehead as a headache started to form. "You know what? No, he's a Titan, he's your responsibility now Zavala, I'm done with this today." He turned to leave the hangar, patting Zavala on the shoulder. He was so sick of this Vanguard position, it was driving him crazy. He left the hangar, heading back to his room rather than the 'Hall of Vanguards,' enough was enough for one day.

—

The sky had an orange glow to it, the bottom fourth of the canvas a sunset orange and red, and the other three fourths an endless void of purple and stars. The Speaker was looking over the sky, and the Last City. It was truly a beautiful sight before him, and it's what all guardians were fighting to protect.

But he knows it more than anyone, that they will not win this war of four fronts.

Every citizen wants to know if humanity is losing. The guardians know that they are losing.

The Speaker however, wants to know if they've lost.

His concentration broke as he heard footsteps on the glass bridge to his chambers, turning to see a Hunter and Warlock walking side by side. He checked the time, not like he needed to; even in new armor, he could still recognize the two figures before him. He welcomed them in, inciting for the two to follow him up the stairs to their left. Once he had ascended such steps, they did in turn follow.

The Speaker took his seat, and he had set up two other chairs in his observatory for the two to take a seat in. Once they had sat down, they began.

"It has been seven years since we last had revived guardians.., and yet, we achieve two resurrected in the same 24 hour period. You two have no idea how exceptional you are." The Speaker relaxed in his own chair, sighing to himself. "You two have the choice to take up the mantle of becoming guardians, something that I hope you leave here today agreed upon."

Garrett looked at Katherine, and then his arms, covered in Hunter garb. "I thought we already were guardians?"

"You Garrett, can be, everything has been laid out for you, it is now up to you to walk the path of a guardian, as a Hunter…" The Speaker trailed off, now turning to look at Myra. "And you, Myra, the light and dark in your blood nominates you to become a Warlock, and a mediator on the dreadful forces in this system." The Speaker paused, before leaning forward, his hands clasped around each other. "The both of you have a difficult choice to make. It's a simple either or, but it's one that will have its consequences either way… leave this tower, keep your Ghost, and live in the Last City, and make a life, a family, and happiness for those you hold dear." He paused, standing up slowly, speaking as he rose from his chair, "Or… become a guardian, and help push back the minions of Darkness, or it's very self, should it come back. Defend the rest of Humanity, of earth-born Awoken, and the Exos… and defend them till we breathe our last…" The Speaker was standing up straight when he finished, slowly walking over to the two, hand outstretched. "Join your fellow guardians, and ill let you know everything that you need to know."

Garrett took the hand, he had already made up his mind when he set foot at the Tower, he was ready to become a guardian.

Myra, on the other hand, backed up, her mind wasn't made up yet. She was grateful at the second chance of life, but she was indecisive. Her Ghost noticed this, and spoke up.

"We need… to think about this, could you give us until noon tomorrow to make up our minds?" The Ghost asked, hoping to pull his guardian out of the conversation.

"But of course, please, both of you, do take time to sleep on this, for this is no small choice, come back around the evening, I will be awaiting your response." The Speaker spoke, while pulling Garrett out of his seat, the white mask staring at Garretts new helmet. "Speaking of which, you two have new rooms here in the tower. Garrett, Myra, coordinates have been sent to your Ghosts, you will keep these rooms if you choose to take up the responsibility of a protector, a savior, and a guardian. Go, now, leave me be for tonight. I hope you both make the right choice…"

Garrett sighed, nodding at the Speaker, and leaving to his new room, chatting with Katherine once he had left the observatory. Myra also left, but had a more serious talk with her Ghost.

"Thanks Spark… I just… I needed to think on this, I'm scared of, this, more than anything really." She explained, her head hung and her back arched slightly.

"Believe me," Spark started, getting in front of Myra, "No matter what, we're in this together. Let's go sleep on it, we can talk it over in the morning." He spun a little, the blue eye waiting for praise of his idea.

"Alright… yeah, ok…" She didn't know how to respond, well, she did, but she was just now realizing how exhausted and tired she was. She stretched her hands above her head and arched her back forward, multiple pops were heard and she yawned. She unclasped her new helmet and pulled it off her head, staring at it in her hands, thumbing over the small visor. It disappeared out of her palms, Spark taking care of it and storing the piece of armor.

"Where's our room?"

"It is… this way."

—

The Hunter and his Ghost stepped into their room, taking it in. It was like a hotel room,or apartment. That was the best Garrett was able to describe it. To his left, the bathroom, to his right, a normal sized closet. In place of where typically would be a second bed, there was a TV, couch, and shelves, and of course there was a bed for him to sleep in.

His new armor slowly disappeared around him, leaving him in the skintight black undersuit, sighing as he laid down on the bed, rubbing his forehead as a headache set in. If there was something he didn't miss, it was his head being a pain in the-

"Hey. I just _gotta_ ask… why _were_ you getting so close to… Myra, was it? When she was sleeping?" Katherine materialized herself, and rested on the bedside table, slowly shutting down her systems so she could hear Garrett's answer. She also shut the lights off, the only light now coming from her singular eye, glowing perfectly blue in the dark, staring back at Garrett

"Gah, I don't know… there was just _something_ luring me I guess. You could've told me she was awake."

"I could've, but where's th_e fun in tha…_"

Katherine shut down, entering a rest mode where she'd be awakened if Garrett needed her. Her blue eye slowly faded away, until the room was pitch black.

Garrett adjusted himself on the bed and under the covers of said bed. He finally had another chance for his thoughts to linger on his purpose, why he was brought back, and if he truly wanted to re-exist. He groaned to himself, adjusting his head on the pillow, and dozing off.

—

Myra entered her own room, akin to a hotel room, or an apartment.

You already know what it looks like.

She plopped down on her own bed, resting her head in her hands. Her armor slowly dissipated, and left her in the skintight bodysuit she was resurrected in, a dark purple and pink design.

Spark looked at her with worry, and slowly came closer, speaking up. "Myra, are… are you..?"

"I'm fine. It's just… a lot to take in… they can't just expect us to agree to this, can they?" She looks at Spark, lifting her own head out of her hands.

"I think they'd understand your decision if you chose not to accept the new responsibilities… but, the Traveler brought you back for a reason, it knows the good you can do." Spark said optimistically, resting himself on the bedside table, dimming the lights to near complete darkness.

Myra pondered on what he had said, and sighed as she laid back onto the mattress. Maybe he was right… she'd figure out all she needed to know in the morning.

Goodnight, you two.

Those nights are numbered.

—

_Six fools stood before strength._

_Five were crushed by the immense force._

_One was left in agony._

_The one in agony is the one in mourning._

_Mourning._

_Mo(__u__)rn._

_Morn._

_Eris Morn._

—

_**Annddd that concludes this chapter of 'It Is Near'!**_

_**Sorry that this one was shorter, not much to do with the time off.**_

_**I can't wait to get to the Dark Below, The Taken King, D2, ah…**_

_**In the meantime, please leave a review about what you liked, or what you didn't like, I could use the support/criticism!**_

_**Here's the Discord aswell for anyone with questions, theories, or just interaction!**_

_**The link works, just take away the spaces and it should allow you in!**_

_** discord . gg / C9YEgcS**_

_**Until next time then!**_

_**Echorent**_


	5. Shaking The Rust

**Chapter 5**

_1.1 There is… unspeakable things lurking in the Sol System, and even more terrifying things beyond… you three were the key to stopping it, but… I don't want it to end…_

_{?} Believe me. I know the feeling._

—

Garrett's eyes were met with a blinding yellow light, immediately bringing the sheets up to shield his eyes. He groaned, immediately remembering where he was.

"Kat… what time is it?" He groaned again, shifting over to block out the main source of the light, but it was no use.

"9:00 A.M on the dot." She said, already had been booted up, and was hovering around the room, spinning around. "Today's the day! You get to tell the Speaker you're ready to become a Hunter! I am proud of myself, yes, but I'm also so proud of you!" She spoke, overjoyed, zooming around his head, making him get up. As soon as Garrett was up, she slid the pieces of armor over his bodysuit. The soon to be Hunter rolled his neck, heading for the door, his weapons also materializing across his body; his hand cannon on his thigh, sniper on his back. He gripped the doorknob, opening said door.

Myra left her room, already doused in her Warlock attire, making small talk with Spark. She groaned, seeing another door open across from her.

"The world is doing it's damndest to not separate us, huh?" Garrett spoke from the other side of the hallway, the two starting to walk with each other, both heading to the Speaker.

"I. Am going to kill you. And then myself." She muttered, rubbing her temples, or at least would be if the helmet wasn't in the way.

"Hey, I'm sorry about my first impression towards you; I know that must've come off as… creepy." He said, rubbing the back of his hooded helm. He didn't want to explain the urge to just... observe. It was wrong, but it wasn't _him._ He just had to get a chance to prove that.

"It's fine… well, it's not, don't do it again. But I forgive you." She spun around to face him, a finger jabbed up into his visor. "And if you _do, _I am going to utterly eradicate you from the face of this planet." She said, not owing an inch; visor glaring up into Garretts own. He held his hands up next to his face in a surrender position. He couldn't help but smile under his helmet, thank God for that.

"Don't worry, believe me, I won't." He waited for her arm to go down before they continued their walk, Garrett the first one to speak up. "Soo… heading towards the Speaker?"

"I am. I thought about my choices and my interests last night, and figured this is for the best. I was given a second chance, so it's best not to waste it. What about you? It seemed that you were very headfirst about accepting the role yesterday, any second thoughts?"

"No… No not really. Sure, I've been thinking about it, but my decision is final, I will become a Hunter, and help the world my second life has brought me to. I'm surprised that that wasn't your first intention?"

"Well, I never asked to be brought back, I assume. If I get a second shot at life, I'm not going to want to serve it as a slave. This is _my_ life, and I would want to make the most of it. But if this Traveler wants my service in exchange for raising me from the dead? It's the least I can do."

They stayed quiet for a bit after Myra's response, making their way to the Speakers observatory together. Once they were there, the Speaker had been waiting for them up by his desk. He invitees them up, waving his arm for them to ascend the stairs to their left. Garrett was the first up, followed by Myra shortly after. Both Ghosts materialized, staying by their respective Guardians, who were in the process of taking their seats.

"I've eagerly waited for your return." The Speaker spoke, taking his own seat, his hands clasped together in his lap. "I hope you both have an answer ready for me this morning?" He asked, shifting his hidden gaze between the both of them.

Garrett was the first to speak up, response ready. "Yes, we've both considered it, and we'd be more than willing to assist in this fight."

"While I admire that drive to help Garrett, you do not speak for Myra, I need to hear it from-"

"No, I'll do it, I'll fight in this war. But once I've done my part, I want out." Myra said, cutting off the Speaker in whatever he was going to say next.

"Of course. But if you are needed in a crisis event, you will be called back into the line of duty." The Speaker informed her, resting his head on his left hand.

"Deal." Myra confirmed, holding out her hand; to which the Speaker grabbed with his own, and shook it.

"You three hold the power to make a difference in these trying times. I hope to see you all by the end of this." The Speaker sighed, while Garrett and Myra looked at each other. They had confused faces on underneath those helmets.

"Umm, Speaker? There is two of us…" Garrett pieced together the rant of words, not even knowing how to say it.

"Your third fireteam member is already training with Zavala out in Shaxx's _Crucible_. You each will go to your respective Vanguards and find a place to practice your new found powers, it may end up being the only thing from saving your lives. Go now, and welcome to the Guardian ranks!"

The two thanked him, and left the observatory, heading to the Vanguard Hall at the main hub. They spoke with their Vanguards, who had nothing better to do, Cayden seemed to jump on the opportunity to get out of the tower almost _too_ quickly, Garrett wondered why that was…

—

Zavala grunted as he was thrown into the dirt by another Guardian, to which in return he slammed his fist into said Guardians visor, batting away the cloak and hood in one single arc strike. The Hunter rose to his feet, and pointed his hand cannon at Zavala. Before anything else happened however, Adam dropped down behind the hunter, and snapped his neck. The Hunter crumbled to the ground, his Ghost scattering away to find a safe place to resurrect their fallen warrior. Adam held out his hand, and Zavala took it, getting to his feet.

"I should've never let you and Shaxx talk me into this; I despise the Crucible." Zavala spat, his helmet masking his gravelly voice.

As if on cue, bullets began to pepper their position, to which the two rolled into separate bits of cover. Adam loaded a rocket launcher he had acquired, the ammo produced from the Hunter that he had just slain. He fired it towards where the rifle fire was coming from, two Warlocks and another Titan going flying in the air. Adam rose out of the cover, his own auto rifle drawn. He turned to Zavala, Adam quite liked the Crucible.

"I don't see what you're going on about, this is grea-" Adam was cut off before he could finish his thought, a sniper shot echoing across the map, the bullet going straight through Adams helmet and metal dome all too easily. He dropped dead, the Hunter from earlier had picked off Adam easily. Zavala sighed, and went back to it.

—

Garrett and Cayden materialized in a private match, Shaxx giving them access to Bannerfall for as much time they needed it for. They both were on opposite teams, but had access to each other radio. Garrett drew his hand cannon, making sure it was primed and ready. Caydes name appeared in the top right of his visor immediately. It was sunset already, so it would be night time soon.

"Alright new guy, how about you just show me what you got for a bit and then we can work on your abilities, I'll stay clear of using my own, sound fair? Great." Cayde said, his own hand cannon drawn, a helmet on his own head as well.

And so, the two arrogant and hot headed Hunters, began.

—

Myra shot out a ball of Solar flames from her hands, Ikora firing her own Void energy at it, dissipating it completely, Myra charged, firing her sidearm in quick succession, Ikora vaporizing each bullet with Solar energy. Ikora readied her prized shotgun, The Chaperone, whipping it to the point where it hit Myra in the jaw, only for Myra to recover to hear a shotgun blast, and a hole where her chest should be. She crumbled over, dead. Spark resurrected Myra, who once she was up, tried charging Ikora again, and in return got decimated by a Nova Bomb. This went on for awhile, Myra not even getting a single kill on the master Warlock. She sighed, resting and taking a break with Ikora. Ikora unclasped her helmet, taking it off, and looking at the view they had here, looking out towards the other snow-tipped mountains.

"How do you do it?" Myra asked, looking towards Ikora, she had just gotten mopped by her but still wanted to improve.

"I had… I had a good teacher. And lots of practice. I feel you would've gotten along with him. But that's a topic for another day. I got better with training, so…" She stood up, holding her am out to Myra. "Let us practice more."

Myra took the hand.

—

"Agh!" Cayde yelped as he was tossed into a wall, standing up quickly and firing round after round from his Ace of Spades, a few of the bullets nailing his adversary. Garrett yelped, and jumped over his cover, taking out his knife, and firing his Duke with his other hand. Cayde sighed, an instinctively summoned and threw a weighted knife towards Garrett. It hit home, right in between the eyes, putting Garrett down like a sick dog. Katherine brought him back, and he stood, arms crossed.

"And… that was?" Garrett asked, annoyed.

Cayde just nervously laughed, rubbing the back of his hood. "Aha… a umm, my knife?" He said, trying to just make his lie sound normal.

"I felt the heat on my face before my mind snapped back to nothing, what did you do."

"Oh quit it you big baby, that was probably just the blood. But, if you want to know how to summon a weighted knife, which I didn't just do; by the way. We should focus on our abilities, they look so badass in the dark!"

"Fine."

They stood in quiet, until Garrett spoke up, not really knowing how to start.

"So…"

He was shut off from his line of thinking as Cayde popped his Super, and incinerated him with his Golden Gun.

This…

This is going to be a long night.

—

Zavala uppercutted a Titan that had been pissing him off the entire match, Adam however having a great time mowing down countless combatants. He jumped off the center of the former Vex installation, and threw a lightning charged grenade, which took out a Warlock, and stunned a Titan. Before he could land a killing blow on the Titan however, a second Warlock came out, and incinerated him with their own Melee ability. Adam respawned, and got immediately capped by a sniper. Zavala in the meantime had racked up four other Guardians, and was in a shootout with a Hunter. Adam finally made his way back to mid, and could feel some kind of energy radiating off of him. Below him was two thirds of the enemy team, all with some form of heavy weapon at the ready. It was too bad they wouldn't get to use it, for he slammed down with the might of God, similar to a thunderbolt, and all present were channeled with electricity, minus the person radiating it, giving them a painful and shocking death.

"Did you _see that!" _Adam yelled over the fireteams voice channel.

Zavala was pinned, but a Hunter on his team ran right past him, running straight towards where the other third was holed up, and where the rest of his team was bound to be respawning. He yelled out the word no, but it was too late, and the Hunter was obliterated after turning the corner. Considering that Guardian was a loss, he noticed the other third of the team started pushing, most wielding rocket launchers. One soared by his head as he pulled off, detonating on a wall and tossing the Vanguard Titan to mid. He stood up, casting a Ward of Dawn around himself and Adam, grunting as he tried to hold it as all rockets impacted his bubble.

They went on to topple that game, winning the next, and the next, and the next. They lost twice to the same group of Guardians, a squad of two Hunters and a Titan. They were way too good at strategy. Zavala would have to get their names, they fought well.

They walked away with Adam having very well knowledge about his Striker Class, and a little bit of training for his Sentinel. Zavala was curious… it seemed the Ward of Dawn always emitted from his wrist, and refused to manifest at times… hmm…

All in due time, I guess.

—

Two Nova Bombs struck each other in midair, Myra and Ikora soon locking swords in the midst of it's explosion. These were sparring blades, so no damage other than some scratches would happen if one were to be struck with them. The sun was almost down, and they kept clashing blades with each other, sparks visible. Myra used Void energy to deafen one of Ikora strikes, and used the chance to kick her away. Ikora however, sidestepped, and locked her leg in between her arm and her body, and pulled; this put Myra off balance, and she fell to the ground. Ikora lifted up the blade, staring down at Myra. The rookie Warlock, however, stuck a fusion grenade to Ikora's thigh, and was hastily stamped by the boot of Ikroa's, and they were both caught in the explosion. Both their Ghosts rezzed them, to which the two looked at each other, and started laughing. Myra was happy, she had finally gotten a defeat on Ikora, even if it did cost her her own life.

They talked some more about how Myra's tactics were too bold, and she wouldn't always be able to rely on them. They continued to chat as they left the area, heading back for the Last City. In the end, Myra had a good understanding of the Voidwalker path, and knew how to at least summon fusion names, and her incinerating melee ability. Knowing more than one path would've been beneficial, but that is for another day Ikora supposed, the time will come when they will need it.

—

Cayde blocked a throwing knife with his Bladedancer Arc Knife, sending the knife into the air, and kicking the hilt, the blade flying towards Garrett; now pulsating with Arc _and _Solar light. It struck him in the shoulder, to which he growled, ripping it out and tossing it away. He aimed his Golden Gun at Cayden; but when he fired, he disappeared, only to hear a flash behind him. He spun around, and blind fired. Instead of meeting Cayde right behind him, there was a small beeping at his feet. An Arc grenade. He kicked it away, which just so happened to be where a certain Invisible Hunter Vanguard was hiding. It stunned him, and Garrett incinerated the droid with the last shot in his flaming hand cannon. Cayde was resurrected by his Ghost, already laughing as soon as his mouth and lungs were formed.

"Y-You got so _lucky."_ He kept laughing, sighing afterwards, and leaning up against one of the combat zones walls. "But, it's getting late, and Shaxx most likely wants his arena back. You did good, I'm sure Ikora and Zavala are already back, along with your fireteam."

They transmatted out of the Crucible arena, heading back to the Tower. Garrett had grasped the concept of the Gunslingers, and was able to charge his knife with Arc Energy if he desired, but it was difficult. All in all, a pretty well done training session. Not just for Garrett, but for the rest of his fireteam as well. Now all that's left is their first mission, wherever that may be.

—

Ikora and Myra were the last to return to the Tower, walking down the long Hall of Vanguards, making it to their commanding table. Zavala was talking with Adam on his end, and Cayde was being, well, Cayde; and re-enacting something, Garrett looking intently, while Katherine just hovered over his shoulder, her light pulsing as she made her own comments.

Ikora brough Myra back to her side of the table, smiling and clasping her hands around the rookie Warlocks own.

"I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a newly resurrected Guardian is, one of which being a Warlock is a feat of itself, and three of them..?" Ikora paused, looking at Myra's other squad mates. "It's almost the stuff of myth, almost. It's unbelievable, I guess is what I'm trying to say. You and your fireteam have been formed, and have passed your training. You have the Vanguards approval to take up bounties and posted missions for the time being, but try to rest for tonight before attending your duties, you'll need the extra energy. Unless there is anything else you wish to discuss, goodbye for now, Warlock."

Myra shook her head, she had nothing else to say. She was going to wait for her new fireteam, and get to know what looked to be a Titan on their team. Garrett walked over to her, leaning back against the wall next to her.

"Soo… how'd your training go?" Garrett asked, keeping his helmet on for the time being.

Myra took off her own helmet, running her left hand through her hair to clear it up and out of her face. "As well as you'd expect, I got my ass kicked. How about you?"

"I did pretty well, actually. We just kinda went back in forth. His downfall was that he tried to show off a lot." He replied, chuckling to himself as he remembered Cayde failing a drop kick.

"Wonder what his story is." Myra jabbed, nodding her head towards Adam, who was still talking with the Commander.

"To be fair, do any of us have a story yet? We were brought back two days ago; not even two." He questioned back as a response, watching the two Titans wrap up their talk.

"No… guess not." Myra sighed, yawning from exhaustion and tiredness. It was getting late.

Zavala pointed towards the two, Adam turning to look at them, and then back at the Titan Vanguard, nodding. He started to walk towards the two, Garrett pulling down his hood and taking his own helmet off. The Exo finally made it over to the two, looking at them both.

"You two are Garrett and Myra?" He finally asked, his voice a lot more human then they had been expecting.

"We are." Garrett responded, arms crossed, still leaning against the wall. "And… who's asking..?"

"Adam-2, or just Adam. I'm your third and final fireteam member. I've heard about you already from Cayde." He said, pointing to Garrett; then Myra. "But you just got back, so I guess I'll just have to see how you function in the field tomorrow. We… are going on an operation tomorrow right?"

Garrett was the first to answer Adam, tinkering with his red hand cannon. "Well, I was thinking of some bounty hunting work. It'll be enough pay I hope to actually get us functioning, speaking of which…"

Garrett pulled out two cards, tossing one each to the two fireteam members. "Cayde gave me these to give you guys. It's got 1,500 glimmer on it, probably equivalent to the same amount in dollars."

Adam nodded, while Myra was just confused. "A dollar?" She asked, head tilted. "Also, don't you need your ow-"

"Nope, I've already got one. And a dollar is- how do I explain this? Just know that if a price reads _**3 **_it'll be three glimmer, alright?" Garrett tried to explain it, why he even needed to say anything was confusing in of itself. He could explain a dollar and how it was used all he wanted, but could never remember a time where he used one. The fact that Adam knew what it was too also made him raise an eyebrow. But it was whatever, he guessed.

"Ikora said to get some rest," Myra started, beginning to walk away from the two, "She said we will need it, and I believe her. Especially after today." She kept walking, heading backfired her room. Garrett and Adam started walking, Garrett wanting to prepare a little more before the next day.

"Your armor kinda looks like mine when I was revived." Garrett started, climbing the stairway.

"Probably because I haven't swapped it out since I was resurrected." Adam replied, reaching the top of the stairs as well. "So, heading out?"

"Nah, I'm gonna see what I can do about your armor before tomorrow, you go ahead and get some rest, I'll have it ready for you in the morning."

"Got it." Adam turned, his own Ghost popping up over his shoulder, marking the way for Adam, pointing towards his own room.

Garrett sighed, and looked around the tower. Sure, he wanted to prepare, but he also wanted to explore the place he would be fighting for a bit. He spent the next half hour exploring the tower, eventually starting to actually get to the matter at hand, and was able to purchase a set from Zavala for only 400 Glimmer. He was assured by him that the armor would serve its purpose, and Garrett thanked him, leaving the Vanguard hall once again, Ikora warning him on the way out to get some sleep. He made his way back to his own room, sighing as his armor dissipated around his body and flopping down on the bed. Katherine showed herself once more, and spoke for what he thinks was the first time today, he honestly couldn't remember; it was a long day.

"That was fun to watch." She said happily, setting herself down on the nightstand.

"Oh, thanks, I'm glad you thought Cayden breaking my spine amusing." He said sarcastically, getting under the covers and sighing again.

"Not that. The Crucible matches Zavala and Adam were participating in made it into today's highlights. Shaxx is ecstatic and it looks like you definitely have a capable ally on your side."

"That's good, save some clips for me to watch tomorrow."

"Oh I've saved them all already, it's pretty entertaining. I've never seen Zavala this upset…"

"They lost?"

"Oh Traveler no, they stomped out most of their competition. Fireteam Stienstra was the only too topple them, and they are known Crucible Hotshots."

"Anything else I should know?" Garrett asked, getting comfortable and setting his hand cannon on the nightstand as well.

"Most bounties are picked up by newer Guardians, so since that is the case there should be a plentiful amount, due to most nowadays either being experienced or dead. There are a lot of Bounty Hunters out there though, so there may be some small competition. But the point is, there should be a wide selection to choose from. Assassinations, Clearing Areas, Scouting, and so much more. I can't wait for our first actual assignment though."

"Me too… goodnight Kat."

"Goodnight, get some rest."

"I was planning on it."

—

_**Anddddd Chapter 5. Sorry this Chapter took so long, I'm lacking motivation now that I dumped Destiny 2 for other games. I'm sure ill come crawling back to it eventually, but I'm currently having more fun on other games like GTA V at the moment. This story will still be updated regularly, but just expect chapters to come out later than usual until I pick the game back up again. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter is where the action begins and the ball gets rolling.**_

_**Until Next Time!**_

_**Echorent**_


	6. Engaged

**Chapter 6**

_Some things are hard to let go._

_Some things are impossible to achieve._

_Some things are mere replacements, yet no-one will admit it._

—

Adam groaned as he sat up, leaning off the bed and standing up. He rested his head in his hands, his eyes shutting to comprehend how sleep felt. He didn't get any rest the first night after being resurrected, scared that he would just deactivate again. Last night, however, his Ghost, now named Gabriel, had convinced him to actually sleep. He took the opportunity, and was sure he was going to regret it, but it actually worked out in the end, and he actually caught some decent sleep. Right now he was just in a state of fatigue, it'd shake off soon.

"Finally, you're up. Garrett and Myra woke up hours ago, they are getting a few things straight and will meet you at the bounty board. Garrett also left you something here last night; a new set of armor." Gabriel brought the armor out of thin air, the separate pieces clattering onto the floor. "Suit up, they are actually probably already waiting for you there."

"What? How long was I out for?" He said, standing up off the bed and onto the floor, slowly sliding the new gear onto his form, the green on the armor contrasting well against the black undersuit. He slid the helmet over his head, the white visor replacing where his red eyes and metal horns once were. He curled his hand into a fist slowly in front of his face, and unclamped the fist; repeating the process until he was satisfied. He nodded at Gabriel, and exited his room.

—

A gloved gauntlet pointed at the screen, less than a few centimeters from actually touching it.

"Look." Garrett started, the hand pointing at the screen his own. "All I'm saying is that we can do _both_ of these assignments at onc- oh, look who finally decided to show up!" Garrett crossed his arms, Myra instead just sitting on the stone floor, helmet off and in her lap.

"Yeah Yeah… sorry, it was my first sleep. I'm sure you two slept in aswell on your first night." Adam challenged, crossing his own arms. "Thanks for the new armor, by the way."

"It was… something like that." He thought back to his first interaction with Myra. He did not want to make another mistake like that again."And no problem. You're gonna need it for today." His own grin spreading onto his face.

"Oh here we go." Myra sighed, laying her back down onto the floor but keeping her hands up in the air.

"There are two bounties in the same area. It would be like our own little timed mission. First, clear out an old docking yard and investigate a downed Guardian transport ship. It's a Vanguard endorsed bounty, so payment will be in a sum of glimmer. We will split it three ways. Then, the Vanguard again, want us to take out a group in an area called 'The Forgotten Shore', and they want us to investigate whatever they were guarding and or scrapping. They also informed us on the bounties description that we can keep anything we find too. But that should go without saying. Any questions?"

"When do we move out?" Adam asked, taking his auto rifle off of his back, rolling his neck. He was anxious to get in the field, especially when all that he had fought was, ironically, fellow Guardians.

"As soon as Myra's ready." Garrett said, gesturing over his shoulder towards the apathetic awoken woman; whose hands were still in the air.

"Finnneee…" She sighed after her long groan, picking herself up off the floor and dusting herself off. "How are we even getting to… wait, where are we even going?"

"It's the place I was revived at, well, it's in the general vicinity. The old docking yard was actually the holder of a hangar that held my ship. We stole it from the Fallen and got out of there as fast as we could. I know that Adam here crashed his ship into the Towers hangar, so unless you've got a jumpship, we'll all have to take mine." Garrett said, starting to walk towards the hangar, the other two on the fireteam following in tow.

"I don't, I walked back to the tower, it was only 20 something miles away. I was able to get back within the night." Myra sighed, Spark appearing and floating around, before speeding past them. "Don't mind him." She started, "He's going to get signoff on Garretts transport."

To that, Katherine also materialized. "I should probably go help, he's gonna have a hard time getting sign off without our access code." She also sped off, Adam tilting his head and looking at Garrett.

"Access Code? What _is_ the Access Code?"

—

"What do you mean he was able to guess it!" Was the first team the fireteam heard, Katherines voice audible as she... spoke with the shipwright. Myra stepped in front of Garrett, beneath the helmet a 'told you so' look on her face. Adam on the other hand just laughing.

"Look!" The shipwright started, "When you make an Access Code: _Access Code_, there will be someone dumb enough to try it! Fix it if you don't want others hijacking your property in the future."

Katherine groaned, and flew back to the others. "...We may need a new Access Code…" She said, irritated.

"Y-You actually made your Access Code… Access Code.." Adam said, and had finally stopped laughing.

"It was her idea!" Garrett yelled, hands out and gesturing towards his Ghost. "_Access Code! Nobody will __**ever**__guess that!_" He imitated Katherine, the Ghost becoming embarrassed.

"Well _you_ were the one who agreed to it, so we are both at fault." Katherine debated, Myra sighing and breaking the absolute train wreck apart.

"Guy's… it's not like our ship was stolen or anything. Spark went and just get it prepped. Garrett, you change the Access Code in the future. There, done. Ok?"

"Ugh. Fine. Is it ready yet?" Garrett sighed, rubbing his helmeted head.

"Just about, Spark wants us over there." Myra pointed to a boarding scaffold, the three heading over to it and waited for the ship to come.

And the ship did come by, the three boarding it, and Garrett stepping himself in, the other two fireteam members doing the same.

"Alright." Katherine started, "Amanda has prepped the ship and restored it to a non deteriorating position. So, there will not be the threat of the floor falling out beneath us… probably."

Before anyone could say anything, the Ghost jumped the ship, the transport launching out of the Hangar, and taking off into the distance, heading for the Cosmodrome, Old Russia.

—

A squeal emitted from a glowing red eye, and a loud hunk of metal hit the floor, clanking as it collapsed. The barrel of a smoking yellow rifle lowered, the wielder snarling as they walked over to finish off the machine.

The Vex peered up at its entire group's assailant, it's body twitching as it tried to return an attack, only for it's attacker to make it's metalcore cave in. It's eyes glow slowly went out, the red fading to a dull gray. The Hunter removed their helmet, a gray and white frame belonging to an exo woman underneath it. They looked around at the Chaos they had caused. This area was going to be clear for quite a few days. Perfect. She timed it perfectly, she wouldn't settle for any less.

Only a week of wait, and she can try again.

Perfect timing.

—

The dropship touched down, the group emerging from their ship. Garrett stretched, Myra checking her pulse rifle, and Adam cracking his robotic knuckles. They looked at the dry area before them, old sheds from who knows how long ago and pools of water littering the area. They could see the downed ship, the thing still smoking. How it was still filling the air with smoke was confusing, but they didn't choose to question it.

Before anyone could say anything, Myra took off running towards the ship, her loaded pulse rifle in arms. Adam patted Garrett on the shoulder before following in turn with Myra, pulling the auto rifle off his back as he ran. Garrett started to walk forward, pulling his hand cannon out of his armors holster, and pulling back the black and red hammer. He gripped it tight, and chased after his two other teammates.

Myra was the first to the crash site, rifle raised as she scanned the area. Nothing jumped out at her nor blew her to pieces, so she lowered the rifle. Adam, who she had no idea was right behind her, also lowered his.

Garrett finally caught up with them, not even bothering to raise his weapon, seeing how the others already had the situation under control. He held his hand out, Katherine materializing and investigating the transport. After a few seconds, she spoke up.

"The only reason why it's in one piece is that they barely even got off the ground… let's see… the logs are intact, their last mission was to restore a information hub a few yards away. They succeeded, but were shot down while exiting the area. No bodies… they must have escaped."

"Atleast that's some good news… where did you say this hub was?" Adam asked, shouldering his rifle, but not quite holding it upright.

Katherine disappeared, speaking to the group over their comm channel. "I set a marker for the three of you, turn around, it's only about 50 feet from us…"

And the group did turn around, Adam taking the lead while Garrett and Myra followed. They reached the information hub, and the room was really dark. Too dark.

All of the Ghosts materialized, using themselves almost as a flashlight, illuminating the stairs for them. They made their way through the barren shed, finally finding a room with a glow in it.

"He we are…" Spark said as he floated towards the massive computer, Gabriel also assisting him in accessing it, while Katherine just helped illuminate the room for the group, who were looking around at the decaying room. She took more interest in Myra's findings, who was trying to pry open a container of sorts.

"Hey, Garrett! Get over here!" She called, having no luck in opening the box.

Garrett made his way over, getting down on one knee to see whatever had caught her interest.

"What is it?" He asked, running his hand over the top, sweeping away the layer of dust on top, revealing a metallic golden color underneath.

He slapped his hands together to clear the dust off his gloves, pulling out his knife, and wedging it in between the seal. Adam had also come over to see what was happening, and watched intently as a glow emitted from it.

A stream of glimmer sprouted from the chest, like it was pent up to release. Garrett picked up a small piece, examining it as his two teammates did the same. They started to gather the glimmer, which totaled about 300 for them each. Adam kneeled down next to the crate, picking up a blue engram from it. Gabriel had reappeared next to them, none of them even noticing him return. The engram disappeared from his hands, Gabriel speaking up to Myra.

"I'm storing the engram to be decoded later. Both you and Garrett already have a Rare set issued by the Vanguard. While it may not be the best due to it being standard issue, Adams set is a mere green code. No matter what comes out of this, it would be better than whatever he is currently wearing. It's logical to give it to him."

"I understand." Myra nodded, rising back to her feet. "So, what has Spark fou-"

She was cut off by a blue bolt of arc energy slamming into her shoulder, followed by a barrage of more weapon fire. Adam dove out of the way, spraying his auto rifle back as he got behind a desk. Garrett grabbed Myra, firing his hand cannon back as he got both of them to cover. Myra was cursing as she held the burnt area, right around her collar bone. Garrett patted her shoulder, saying something incoherent to anyone listening, and hopped over the cover to move up, tossing a solar grenade to ensure that he wasn't hit in the same way Myra was. He got behind his own cover, motioning to Adam to do something. The Exo nodded, a green light registering on their hud. He reached into the air, Gabriel materializing his Rocket Launcher out of thin air. While he was loading it, Katherine came flying over, disappearing into his helmet.

"Two Captains, 10 Vandals, and a countless amount of Dregs! And that's what's left, your grenade took out another Captain and two Vandals." She informed the team, Spark returning to his Guardian and starting to heal the Awoken warrior.

Adam laid the stock on his shoulder, firing into the horde of merciless Fallen pirates. The missile was heading straight for a Captain and his small pack, but a Vandall intercepted it, sacrificing itself and saving it's commander. The mislead missile instead only took out three of the Vandals and several Dregs.

After the Captain saw this, he ordered his group to fall back, less they suffer the same fate of those that just fell. The other Captain stood his ground, and the numbers dwindled as the two groups split. Garrett peeked over his cover, sneakily aiming the sniper onto the Captains skull. The shot rang out, and the commander went down. The Dregs fled after they witnessed this, but the Vandals charged, swords drawn. Adam rushed forward, decking two in the face with an arc charged fist, but costed him a few slashes as he wasn't accustomed to the Fallen fighting style, while Garrett impaled the last one of the Captain's sword he saved from his first encounter with the Fallen, flicking the arc energy on and cooking the vermin on the blade.

He kicked the now lifeless corpse off his sword, using one of the Fallen rags to clear the blue blood off. He turned back to the screen, checking up on his teammates. He made sure Myra was okay, before asking to speak with Spark.

"So… what did we almost die for, that was in the hub?" Garrett asked, reloading his Hand Cannon and chambering his Sniper Rifle.

"Something very useful." Spark said, his shell twirling, he was excited. "Have any of you heard of a 'NLS Drive'?"

—

_**Yay… another chapter done…**_

_**Yeah.**_

_**I don't have much to say this time around actually. Stay tuned for the next chapter? I'm glad I was able to fit some kind of action into this chapter. One thing I wanted to clarify is Adams voice, mostly because sometimes I get confused while writing his character sometimes. The best way I can put it is that he is pretty much the Exo Version of Emile from the Halo series, minus… well, pretty much everything but his voice and personality. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm working on the next one already :)**_

_**Echorent**_


	7. Round One

**Chapter 7**

"Have any of you ever heard of a 'NLS Drive'?" Spark asked the group, turning around and looking at those present.

Gabriel was about to speak up, but Spark shushed him. "I was addressing the Guardians, not us." He flew up a little, floating before the information hub screen.

"For those who don't know, the NLS Drive is what most Guardian ships are outfitted with today. I'll spare us all the nitty gritty and annoying details, but the gist is that we can travel at very fast speeds. The flight to here took us just under two hours, whereas the NLS Drive could've gotten us here in a few minutes. A trip to the moon is possible with this thing, the trip being around ten minutes long." Spark said, his blue eye glowing brightly.

"So… let's go get this thing." Adam said, cocking his shotgun back and forth with one hand. "Where is it?"

"That's the problem, it looks to be in the heart of Fallen territory, around a certain hangar where two certain individuals may or may not have stolen a ship from?" Spark said, turning himself to look onto Garrett and Katherine. "And it may or may not be in the hands of an Archon. Riksis. He hails to the house of Devils, and has a nasty track record of… permanently putting down Guardians. He could be the reason the last group that owned that downed ship outside never made it back."

"How do we permanently die?" Myra asked, standing up and rolling her shoulder, trying to make the numbness go away, looking at her Ghost.

"Well, we have to be destroyed." Spark said, his shell twirling again. "The Ghosts. Myself, Gabriel, Katherine. If the Ghost that brought you back or imprinted with you gets destroyed, they can't bring you back again."

"We can be brought back more than once?" Garrett asked, looking at Katherine for a response, instead of Spark. Adam already knew about this, due to participating in the Crucible prior to this mission.

"Of course!" She exclaimed, jumping up out of his palm. "Unless the area is tainted with too much darkness. Then it takes time. But for example, if the hit Myra took was a little further up, and made a niiiccceee little hole in her head, Spark could've brought her back, memories and all. But _only _Spark, due to the imprint."

"Well. the way I see it, we swore to help this world. He's a big threat, no? So let's take out this threat while they aren't expecting it." Adam said, reloading his launcher and tossing it into the air, where it vanished.

"It's not as simple as that…" Gabriel said, pulling up his hood over his helmet. "But… I may have a plan."

—

The screams of Fallen being wiped from the face of the earth peaked the Archons interest, and his vengeance.

He emerged from the wall, landing, and towering before the three mere humans who had dared trifle with him. The massive shrapnel launcher flickered to life, the flames jutting from the tip of the barrel. He pointed it at the three, finger on the trigger.

"Now!" The hooded one yelled, jumping towards him.

The Archon swiped at the hooded one, and was met with thin air. He heard something behind him, but was met with a searing pain in the back. He was able to smack the best away, before trying to bring a foot down on the other two who remained inactive. The bulky one sidestepped the foot, while the weaker one rolled away. He howled in pain as he registered the point blank blast of it's weapon to it's heel. It fell on one knee, grabbing the one that had us caused the inconvenience and throwing it at the one who had previously rolled. He called out to his followers, the Vandals and Dregs emerging from the walls. He turned to see where the first one went, only to be blasted in the face with a beam of light. He turned around more aggressively, roaring at the wielder and rising to his feet. The hooded one stood there, holding a flaming pistol, and he fired again and again, until it disappeared from his hands.

He took aim and fired, easily hitting him as he was already trying to keep his reinforcements on him. The hooded figure fell back, hitting the wall and slumping to the ground. He turned, only to get struck in the chest with a painful explosive, suffering a similar fate to the hooded human. He hit the wall, his own weapon going flying. He stood and reached for it, only to see a ball of void vaporizing his massive weapon and those surrounding it into oblivion. He snarled at the one who summoned the massive ball of destruction, striding over to it to pop it in his hand. He bent down to strangle it, and was met with electricity scattering across his body, and a bruise on it's jaw. Staggering back and looking at the source, the bulky one was surrounded in what could only be defined as a thunderstorm. They fired another explosive, before tossing the launcher away. The explosion blinded him, and the last thing out saw before everything went black, was an electrified fist barreling towards its face.

—

The Archon fell to the ground, the rest of the few surviving Fallen scattering as they watched their Archon fall to the ground with a thud. Myra shot the ones that she could in the back, scoring a few more Fallen heads under her name. Adams pulses of electricity ceased, the lighting chaining around his body fading as he fell to the ground. The inexperience of his super combined with how long he had been running it took its toll on his frame. He didn't pass out, but was laying on the floor.

Gabriel emerged, the location now safe, and restored Adams stamina, to which the Exo rose from his spot on the abandoned hangars floor. Myra ran past the two, heading over to Katherine and… what was Garrett.

Katherine was scanning the remains, the metal wall coated with a dark red splotch of blood. His body was crumpled up, some things twisted and pulled throughout his form. Katherine spun around, forcing Myra back.

"Give me some space… the area is dark enough, not to mention the decaying corpse of an…" Katherine was actually filled with joy, not even processing the gravity of the situation, and instead focusing on the fact that they had just slain one of the most powerful Fallen in the House of Devils. She actually squealed, but was slapped out of the air, Myra being concerned about Garrett more than her adversaries.

"Right, right. Sorry." Katherine said lowly, almost upset. "I've almost… there. Got it, standby for resurrection!" She said, backing up, and expanding, a blue flash of light blinding any onlookers. When the light faded, Garrett was standing there, looking at his palms.

"What the fu-"

Garretts statement was cut short, Katherines shell head butting him, squeals coming from her.

"Aaaaaaaa! You guys took down an _Archon._ You have _no _idea of the significance of this!" She kept up with her overjoyed ranting, a voice cutting her off.

"And…" Adam said, walking up, and tossing a thick disc shaped object to Garrett, who caught it midair, looking at the object in his hand. Katherine split off, scanning the thing that Garrett was holding.

"Is that…" She started, Gabriel answering her question before she had even asked it.

"An NLS Drive. If we all had the choice to not buddy up on a ship before, that choice is now gone. He only had one of these on him. But on the bright side… it will make these trips shorter."

Katherine dematerialized the NLS Drive for storage. Adam rubbed the back of his helmet, all of their Ghosts disappearing.

"So… are we going to go investigate the shore now?" He reloaded his rifle, the mag having been empty since their engagement with the Archon.

Katherine responded over their comms, marking the way out. "Probably not. You guys deserve a break after that one, and the Speaker will be pleased to hear about how a certain Archon has bit it. So will the Vanguard. I'll see to the armor situation. Adams held up well but, if the condition that Garretts is in says anything about the durability of the Vanguard standard issue set? It may be better to downgrade to other businesses that make better quality gear. Now of course, it won't be as rare as your set… but you'll thank me when you take another hit like that and it doesn't get you killed." She was speaking to Garrett in that last sentence, and Myra nodded, speaking up as well.

"So… report in, get paid, and then celebrate?" Asked Myra, tilting her head and starting to walk towards the exit with her fireteam.

"Exactly."

"Then let's get out of here, my back is killing me." Garrett said, being the first out of the door, the rest following to the ship.

—

The Vanguard were discussing something with little relevance amongst themselves, Cayden disagreeing and Ikora for once taking his side on the matter. Zavala was the first to see their newest fireteam return, stopping the conversation where it was left at. Cayde and Ikora followed his gaze, a small smile breaking on the Titan and Warlock mentors faces. Cayde would've if he could've.

"So…" Cayde started, clasping his hands together. "We saw that you completed the scouting bounty. What happened out there?"

Zavala stood with his hands behind his back, and Ikora had her arms to the side, awaiting the Fireteams report. Katherine and Spark materialized, but Gabriel didn't emerge. Garrett was quiet, expecting Katherine to speak up, but she was dead quiet. Garrett cleared his throat, once again, not knowing the significance of his action.

"We found the wrecked transport of what seemed to be a group of Guardians. They completed their task of restoring the information hub, to which we indulged ourselves in and located an NLS Drive. There was a problem however, and it was in Fallen hands." He paused, letting them process what he had said. Cayde was chuckling, already knowing where it was going. He had a few stashes up in that area, and he knew what thing controlled that territory. Based on the state of Garrett and Myras armor, he knew that they fought it too.

"It was in the hands of an Archon, Riksis to be exact. We were able to take him down, and we were also able to receive an NLS Drive as compensation. We don't know what happened to your other fireteam; but we do believe that they may have fallen to the hands of the surrounding Fallen, which we almost fell to as well. So the mission, while it did have a good haul out, was ultimately a failure." He finished, handing in the bounty card, which was red, as he registered it as a failure.

Cayde took it, looking at it closely. He gripped it in one hand, before hitting it on the edge of the table, the force shattering the fragile artificial card. He laughed, pulling up the bounty on the table and marking it complete, assigning the completion to the fireteam. He thought for a minute, before assigning the fireteam as Fireteam Argen. "You guys took out an _Archon._ You definitely completed the bounty. And…" He kept scrolling, finding the bounty on Riksis. "You completed another bounty in the process. The headhunter bounty on Riksis the Devil Archon was claimed and completed by Fireteam Argen. Rewards entail… ah, just check in with the postmaster in the morning, Ill see to it that everything gets there. Good job you three!"

Garrett was stunned, and so were the other two, but it made sense in the long run. He was about to bring up how they had avoided going to the Forgotten Shore, but decided against it, Cayde would probably give them the same excuse.

"Thank you." Myra said, a smile on her face, underneath her helmet. The other two had their helmets off, Garrett also supporting a smile.

"No thanks necessary Guardian…" Zavala, who was speaking for the first time during this meeting, started. "Today you and the others stopped a great threat, one thats priorities no doubt involved our demise, and crushed those who tried to stop him in the past. On behalf of all the Archon has affected, we thank _you._"

Before the three could respond, Cayden waved them out the door, shushing them too. "Save it. Go celebrate or… some crap. This is a big moment for your fireteam, your first big kill, etcetera. You guys deserve time off, seriously! Also uhh… scrap that set Garrett." He said, referring to the armor that he wore. "The bounty on Riksis entailed a set for all involved in his takedown. It might not be as rare as a set you currently wear, but you'll thank me the next time you get bashed into a wall. No seriously, get out of here. I recommend you check out the last city, it's got all kinds of places, I'm sure you will all agree on something."

"Not to mention this is the place you are fighting for, Guardians." Ikora said, relieved that Riksis was gone. The House of Devils was crumbling, with the Kell being disposed of by Saint many years ago, this Archon was most likely soon to assume it's status as Kell. Still… more powers will rise, she just hoped they all could as well; to meet and challenge the newer powers. "It would be best to know what you are defending."

"Yes Ma'am." Myra said, Garrett already had turned around to leave, and she followed in Turn, Adam taking a few more seconds to turn around, discussing something with Gabriel in his helmet. Eventually the three left the Hall of Vanguards, and made their way down to the Last City.

—

To say the city square was crowded would be an understatement.

The center of the city was loud, so loud that the fireteam couldn't even hear themselves think. They had to wear their armor just to use their comm channels, allowing them to communicate with each other without having to repeat themselves over and over again. They decided that food sounded good, Garrett and Myra were starving, mostly because they hadn't eaten anything since their resurrection. Adam was currently asking the others if he could… eat food. He wasn't sure due to his robotic nature, but the Ghosts assuring him that he could, due to his frame needing to function like a human. Garrett and Myra found it amusing, laughing on another channel where Adam couldn't hear them.

"So…" Garrett toggled back to the fireteam channel, now labeled 'Argen.' "I'm goddamn starving here, we've been walking around aimlessly and we don't even know what we are looking for. What kind of food do you guys want?"

Adam shrugged and toggled a red light in the fireteam channel, he didn't care and didn't understand food that much. Myra was about to speak up but… she didn't know any of humanities foods, she only had brief fragments of her kinds foods. She also sent back a red light. Garrett sighed in realization, remembering that these two were never… how to put it… ah, you get the idea.

"Well then… ummm… how about we just go to the first restaurant or bar we see?" He suggested, Adam agreeing and Myra still lost on the subject. Spark gave her a small rundown on each. Adam seemed to be leaning towards the restaurant idea, mainly because alcohol just didn't really gain his interest, where Myra just didn't care. Garrett didn't either, but a drink sounded good right now.

Eventually they found a place a little less than a block away, some bar named 'Sierra.' They got situated at one of the few tables in there, opting to not just. Sit at the actual bar. They got their meals and drinks, and started to just unwind. They earned the right to relax after today.

—

"They did! I'm telling you!" A voice assured, the voice belonging to the Cayde-6 unit. He was reporting to The Speaker, who was in a small state of minor disbelief. While The Speaker had faith in the newest fireteam, he did not expect results like these off of their first mission. No, not a mission, a bounty! They did this on accident. "Adams Ghost brought in it's head, we have visual proof." Cayde continued, sitting down. Why they had him report to The Speaker, especially with his grudge, he had no idea. But this was something that the two could agree on, so it wasn't that bad.

"I see… I was not expecting them to pull something like this so soon. Keep an eye on them for me, will you Cayden? If they continue like this, they may be on a path to liberate us all from the Darkness and it's Minions…" The Speaker stood from where he was sitting at, Cayde sighing as he had just sat down, getting up aswell and setting out.

"Will do, I already was waiting for their track record to grow, i'll keep ya updated!" He called out as he was descending the stairs, moving his arm up in a mock wave of sorts. The Speaker sighed, and looked out of his observatory and into the beyond.

Maybe… Maybe they had a chance now…

Only time will tell, he supposed.

—

_**Chapter 7! Woopopoppp! And in three days time too! I think this is the fastest I've ever made a chapter after I released it… **_

_**Another thing I wanted to clarify is the Ghosts voices. Spark has our current ghosts voice, the Nolan North Voice, while Gabriel is the older variant, the Peter Dinklage Voice. Katherine is obviously something else due to us not having a female Ghost in our possession before. But she's like Sagira, so in my mind she sounds like her two. However you want to hear them works! As long as you enjoy it! That's all for now! First encounter with the Hive is soon!**_

_**Echorent**_


	8. Down To Earth

**Chapter 8**

A certain Arcadia Class Jumpship, belonging to a certain Hunter, shot out from the hangar, none other than Fireteam Argen aboard. Not soon after, the ship disappeared, using it's NLS Drive for a second time.

They were given a few days break after slaying Riksis, but now that break was up, and they were on their first actual mission. The Fallen were guarding something heavily, an old comms relay, which had been dubbed the name 'Skywatch.'

The Speaker had personally called for Fireteam Argen to see to this matter, to which they accepted the task given to them. Garrett, now sporting a set of 'Sinaa Jaguar 2.1', a Uncommon Model of Hunter Gear. While it was less rare, it definitely was superior to the Vanguard set he had acquired earlier. Myra was also wearing new gear, not wanting to risk the own integrity of what the Vanguard issued them with, she was now dressed in a set of 'Aura Purge.' Adam however, was still in his same green gear, Gabriel had already confirmed that it was superior to what they received from their bounty. Adam made sure to pay Garrett back on his glimmer that the Hunter had spent on his armor. Gabriel dismantled the set they received, and was able to scavenge some glimmer and armor materials from the scrap; the other Ghosts had done similar to their Guardians older sets.

Sitting in the pilots chairs were Garrett and Adam, Myra relaxing in a seat further back, trying to get a little more rest. The two who currently had their minds checked in were talking in filler conversation, trying to make the wait even shorter than the NLS Drive made it.

Eventually, they set down in the 'Mothyards', a barren airfield in which it's rust told stories from centuries ago. Even more of the broken down ships were visible across the channel of water. Adam stepped out first, Garrett waking Myra before exiting as well.

Myra stretched as she descended from the ramp, before putting the new dark gray helmet onto her head, Garrett doing the same and pulling up his hood. Adam had no need to, due to him already wearing the piece of protection. They all readied their weapons, the ship returning to orbit where it would await their return.

They were greeted by a handful of Fallen, mostly consisting of Dregs with the leadership of three Vandals. All of which were swiftly taken care of by the team of Guardians. They advanced up the shipyard, encountering more and more resistance up until the door, where they got pinned by a Captain and it's followers. Garrett had his solution however, and was able to land a sniper round right into its skull, to which the rest of the Vandals and Dregs were easily taken care of afterwards.

They checked in with each other before moving into the dark complex, eventually coming across two dregs that had fled when the Captain went down. The first one was dispatched quickly, the second one running further into the station. The fireteam gave chase, finding it meddling with a gate touchpad. It didn't have a chance to get any further, as Adam blew a hole into the alien with his shotgun.

The Dregs crumpled form fell to the floor, the group looking at the door that the Dreg was desperately trying to get through. Garrett let Kat out, trying to see if there was anything they could do. After investigating the control panel, Katherine sighed, shaking her head.

"Panel is fried, and even if it's components were intact, the power source seems to be… backed up? Like something is clogging the pad as though it were a pipe. You'll have to find another way through." She turned her shell around, facing the team.

"No time." Adam said, approaching the shutters. "Myra, come here." He said, holding out a hand to Garrett and requesting his knife. He placed it in his hand, and Adam put metal to metal, a loud and serrating screeching sound as he made an outline on the shutters. He handed the knife back to Garrett, and then turned to Myra, pointing at the outline.

"I want you to heat up that line, you can do that, can't you?" He asked, referring to her abilities.

"Of course I can, just give me a few minutes…" She said as she went to work on the door, her palms emitting a hot flame, cutting through the line like a blowtorch. Eventually, she wrapped it up, dusting her hands off, small cinders falling into the dirt below them. They stood back, Garrett taking point as he kicked the now melted shutters, the cropping falling with ease. They stepped in one by one, disappearing into the dark and eerie green corridor.

—

It was so dark, it was hard to see anything. All of the Ghosts had to emerge and act as the team's flashlights, or they would trip over the growth that was jutting out of the flight of stairs they were ascending. Spark was hanging behind, Gabriel taking point with the lights and Katherine checking up on Spark. Spark was worried, all the Ghosts were, but the Guardians just thought it was them being nervous.

Movement. They could all hear it, something was scurrying around in the dark. No matter how fast they reacted, it barely got away.

Adam, getting worried as well, started blind firing in spots he heard it, small specks of white visible as the creature didn't have much time to react to these. Garrett stopped the group, and tried to say something. Before his open mouth could form a word, the creature lunged at him, boring it's claws into his chest armor. He groaned, before firing his hand cannon up into the creature's skull. It fell off, and evaporated into nothing. More scurrying was heard, and a shriek that they could not identify. The Guardians were terrified, and the Ghosts fears had been confirmed.

It's the Hive.

—

Before any of them could issue a word to each other, more of the white skeletal figures charged at them. The Ghosts had to disappear or risk being destroyed, so they were in pitch black darkness, the only light coming from the barrels of their weaponry. Garretts weapon clicked empty, and could only reload very slowly due to not being able to see his own gun. He tossed a solar grenade, which filled the room with an orange glow for just a second. From the brief flash, he was able to see a distant corridor. He yelled over the comms to his team, having Katherine mark the exit he saw. They started to run for it, firing their weapons as they ran. They were almost there when something huge knocked Adam off of his feet, sending him into a wall. He looked up, something large was standing in front of him, with the three burning green eyes being all that he could make out. It roared, and brought down it's sword. Adam held his arms up in defense, hiding behind his palms; until a glow blinded the knight, causing it to miss. The sword struck the wall next to Adam's face, and he was able to see the monster before him now. He kicked it back, and ran towards where the light was coming from, the brown creature giving chase. He saw Garrett and Myra, Garrett lining up a sniper shot with the assistance of light from Katherine, who figured it was safe enough to show herself. The sniper recoiled as he fired a round, the sniper shot finding it's target, and the behemoth suffered a similar fate to those who also tried to harm the squad, evaporating into nothingness. Adams' gun clicked empty as well, it was dry after firing into the horde. Myra was already out of the room, Garrett calling for Adam to run. He listened, firing a rocket behind him. Not at the horde, but towards the ceiling, causing the hallway to fall apart, escaping from the horde. He stared at his handiwork, only managing to snap out of it when Garrett called out to him once more. He started following them, jogging away from the makeshift barrier, looking back only once.

—

They emerged from the hallway, gladly accepting the lit room. They were still inside the complex, but the smaller amount of the infestation and better lighting were a much better alternative to the damp and dark grounds below and behind them. They peaked out of the doorway one by one in comedic fashion, and looked around at their next challenge. More of those skeletons sauntered around the room, crowding around a figure that stood out over the rest. A hovering mess of torn rags floated above the slim white creatures, it's species trademark green eyes piercing the light of the room itself.

The creature turned towards where they were all hiding at, a ear shattering screech coming from what they could only assume was its mouth. They were compromised, and the idle skeletons were now at full charge towards their position.

"Take out the Wizard!" Gabriel ordered them over their comms. "The Thralls will drop dead once it's terminated!"

They didn't have to be told twice. They lept out of their cover, engaging with the Thrall. Blades, flames, and even gloved metal fists met bone, the Thrall dissipating every time they were slammed hard enough. Another screech echoed around the room, another group emerging, more of the same burning green eyes, but these were carrying weapons, and had boots on the ground. They wasted no time dispatching them, Katherine complementing them on how quick they took out the Acolytes. Adam threw a Thrall towards Myra, who followed up by disintegrating it with her palm. Myra also had thrown a void grenade at the Wizard, which got rid of it's shields the fireteam didn't even know it had. While Adam and Myra were occupied, the Wizard took the chance to attack Garrett. He jumped back before reeling his arm away. When he snapped it forward, a knife had appeared between his pointer and middle finger. The blade left his hand and flew through the air towards the Wizards skull; to which it impacted, burning a holde into its face and killing it instantly. It's scream finally died out, the rest of the creatures dissipating along with its leader.

Garrett bent over and put his hands on his knees, letting a long exhale out after the room's noises died out, he was exhausted after the entire skirmish. The Hunter slowly sank to the ground, sitting on the floor and leaning his back against the stairs. Garrett sat there for a while, panting lightly and trying to get his breath back, only for a gloved hand to be held out to him. He looked up, Adam holding out his arm. Garrett put his palm into Adams, and groaned as he helped him up.

"Ghosts." He said, looking up and around the room, "Any one of you want to tell me what the hell that was?" Garrett asked, withdrawing his hand. Myra also came over, regrouping with her team.

"That was... the Hive…" Spark informed them, not following it up with anything else. Gabriel picked up where Spark left off, letting out a noise that was almost like a sigh.

"They are another faction of Darkness. We gave up the moon to them in hopes that they would stay away from Earth. It looks like they've had their fill on Luna already though… we have to report this in. This isn't just about surviving deadly scavengers anymore, mankind is in even greater danger than before with this new threat on our doorstep." Gabriel sounded calm, but there was even a tinge worry in his voice.

"I agree." Adam started, acknowledging what his Ghost had stated. "But, we aren't going to be able to go out the way we came in, the hallway is collapsed and even if it wasn't, that horde is still back there." He looked over Myra's shoulder at the door they came from, nothing coming from it. Good. Now let it stay that way.

"There is an exit to Skywatch around the corner up there. Once we are outside I can transmit us back up to orbit. Markers are set on all of your huds." Katherine chimed her way in, a grey diamond shape appearing at where they needed to be.

Myra started heading towards the exit, holding her arms out and walking backwards. "Cmon! Or do you four plan on staying with all the decaying junk?" She called out, Spark already being with her. The two Guardians and their Ghosts looked at each other, before all Ghosts disappeared, and the figures made a break for an exit.

What had they gotten themselves into…

—

_**Guess who's back.**_

_**Back again.**_

_**Echo's back.**_

_**Tell a friend.**_

_**For real though! I'm sorry this chapter took forever to get out! It was actually near complete for the longest time and I just never had any motivation to work on it. I also apologize on how this chapter is about 800 words shorter than standard, I just couldn't think of any scene for after this without clipping into the next chapter. I promise I will make it up soon. My goal is 3 chapters a month. Maybe more if I get the hang of it. If you're enjoying the story thus far, please leave a follow on it and maybe post a review? I'd like to know your guy's opinion on how everything is so far, and maybe any ideas or suggestions you have! That's all for now, check back soon to see if the next chapter is up (or follow it)!**_

_**Echorent**_


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